Progression
by Unseelie Sidhe
Summary: Have you ever danced with the devil by the pale moonlight? Kagome has.It was a refrain that echoed about the hanyou’s head, one that he could not silence no matter how he tried. Just as he could not shut out the sight of them, darkness and light entwined
1. Beginning and End

**1.****Beginning and End**

The first time Inuyasha met Kagome was in eighth grade.

She had been a year younger than him, but twice as smart. He had no problem with it, as she wasn't a know-it-all, and in fact he had been assigned to the quiet, sweet girl for tutoring after his own grades had begun to slip. She had a way of explaining things that made everything easier for him and he was grateful for her encouragement and seemingly endless patience.

He had been ashamed when it occurred to him to realize that she had no friends in school….or anywhere else for that matter. She had just moved to his town, after her mother had been transferred into another division in a laboratory. It had meant a larger salary…and longer hours. Kagome's little brother, Souta, had remained with their father to attend a school for gifted children. Their parents had divorced a few years before, and the hanyou was certain that the situation had contributed to Kagome's quieter nature.

So, Inuyasha brought her into his group of friends, determined to bring her out of her shell.

At first, she had been hesitant, not wanting to impose herself of folks who didn't know her.

But he had insisted. And she had fit in as if they had known her all of their lives.

She was the one they went to for advice. Of if they just needed someone to listen to their troubles.

Miroku said that she had an old soul, one that had seen a great many things both fair and foul over more years than he would care to count. He was especially close to the girl over the years, taking the place of her brother who eventually decided to remain with their father on a permanent basis. Naraku had also filled that role, strangely protective of the little girl from the moment he'd been introduced to her. The Kumohanyou had never really taken a serious interest in anything before Kagome's entrance into their lives, and it had been something of a shock to Inuyasha when the other male had later been given detention for punching out a fellow student…who had stolen Kagome's math books. Naraku had been unrepentant as he had smirked the entire way to the principal's office. Kagome had stood there, wide-eyed, unsure as to what she should do next.

Inuyasha had had a grand ol' time relaying the story to the others. Sango had been tickled pink for the addition of another girl to their group, and had demanded an introduction the very next day. Miroku had deduced that if Kagome could bring out the protective instincts in a male who was thought to have none at all, than she must be worth knowing.

Shippo had been neutral…_for all of about ten seconds after meeting her._

He adored the girl. She was descended from priests and miko, though she held nothing but respect for most youkai. She giggled with him when he pulled his pranks on her…and he made certain that they were never damaging. She encouraged him when he was picked on, Kitsune being physically slower to develop and so oftimes were overlooked as children. Kagome never forgot to treat him as an equal.

Kagura was about the only one who could draw out Kagome's hidden snark, and did so with glee. The two could be seen trading playful quips as Naraku did his impression of a hyena, laughing as the two ripped at each other, only to turn on him and have him howling even harder.

But for all of that, Inuyasha was also quite careless.

On occasion, he'd become selfish and demanding. Or forgetful.

The first time it happened…it had had lasting consequences.

----(past)

It was just weeks after Kagome's thirteenth birthday, and he had decided to host a sleepover for their entire division. Almost a hundred children had swarmed through his monstrosity of a home. Kikyo, who had finally come home from abroad, had claimed his attention from the first and he had allowed it. The beautiful, possessive, girl had monopolized him before drawing in the others.

They hadn't even remembered her, after a few hours, and so Kagome had found a quiet corner in the TV room as dozens of couples lay about the room in varying stages of cuddling.

She had felt lonely amongst so many strangers, not being the type to chit-chat with those she did not really know.

It had been as the movie was just reaching its climax that she had felt someone take a seat next to her on the sofa. She looked up, only to stare in amazement.

He had looked a great deal like her handsome hanyou friend. But…_better_.

Where Inuyasha's hair was white and somewhat coarse, this male's shown like liquid silver in the flickers from the wide screen television. His face was serene, showing the promise of beauty with maturity, though he was already unnervingly handsome. He had smiled at her as he leaned down to murmur to her over the movie. "You don't mind sharing with me, do you?"

His voice was shiver inducing and hit down low in a way to make her even more aware of his appeal…even at thirteen.

She's blinked, before dumbly shaking her head. _No, she didn't mind._

He'd thanked her, before turning back towards the screen, and Kagome had spent the next few hours covertly studying him when the opportunity presented itself.

He was a few years older than she was and she couldn't help but feel intimidated by him. He was already over six feet tall and well-muscled. She imagined that he must have to beat away the female species with a stick…or his rather deadly looking claws.

He reached up, then, and raked long fingers through his mane, exposing the fey ears typical of full-blooded youkai.

_She had desperately wanted to touch them… _

He'd been bare of markings, then at seventeen, not yet having acquired the right to wear them until he reached his twentieth birthday where they would be tattooed onto his body. His skin was warm and tawny in the soft light and she'd almost sat on her hands to keep from making a bigger fool out of herself and reaching out to touch him.

She didn't see the way his full mouth quirked as he noticed her interest. Nor the way his molten eyes gleamed as he decided to allow it without comment to save her from embarrassment.

_She had been very young, even more than her age implied. Though never naïve. And he had known it. _

_She was a cute little thing, _he decided. Though far too young at that time for him to even think of her as anything more than a companion. _She needed someone to keep an eye on her who would not be biased by previous relationships. She could not be left to flounder, because he could already see the promise of power in her, and would need someone to hold her to her true self. _

He had seen all of this in her…even then.

Something onscreen had chosen that exact moment roar and a cause a huge commotion. She had squeaked and jumped, clambering gracelessly into his lap and she'd found herself pressed up against the strange male before she could even register what she'd done, then blushed madly at the contact as his arms curled about her to hold her in place when she'd begun to remove herself.

"You'll have to pardon me," he'd chuckled softly. "I do better with physical contact during scary movies."

His teasing was light and harmless, and Kagome had smiled at the self-mockery, even if it was so clearly untrue. She'd relaxed against him, then, and it was not long before the heat of his body lulled her to sleep, despite the high volume of the film.

He'd sat there with the girl, and felt strangely contented for having succeeded in his inexplicable need to see her smile.

He'd actually felt _anger_ at the hanyou for abandoning her as he had, and it had surprised him, because he was unused to giving a rat's ass for anything other than his own needs and desires. _His need to succeed in life and his desire to prove his worth to his father were the only things deemed worthy of his attention. _He'd seen them all, every one of her so-called friends, laughing and chatting away in the other room, and he'd found himself wondering where the smallest of them had wandered off to. He'd become used to hearing stories about the little female and he'd come to know her through Inuyasha's words, though he'd yet to meet her face to face. It hadn't taken him all that long, after that, to track her down, the scent of her that he'd picked up from the hanyou leading him into the crowded room that still failed to give her the longed for companionship.

He had been uncommonly careful as he ran his clawed fingers through short, baby-fine locks of dark hair, exploring the texture as he gave in to the urge.

_If asked that morning, he would have never dreamed that this is where his day would end._

He'd smiled, tucking the dark crown of her head under his chin as he turned his eyes towards the television screen, tuning out the rest of the viewers and allowing himself to zone into the movie.

XOX

That had been the end of Kagome's anonymity during her junior-high school career. Envy had run through the student body, for both parties, when word of the night's happening had spread throughout the teen population of those who had missed it, the next morning.

When Sango had suddenly remembered their missing friend, she had demanded that they search for her and make their apologies. After all, it was the height of rudeness to invite someone somewhere, only to forget about them. She had gathered the main body of the pack, Inuyasha and Kikyo refusing to budge from their 'together time'.

Her voice…and everyone else's…had frozen in their throats at the sight that had greeted them upon throwing on the lights in the movie room.

It seemed that Kagome had Inuyasha's older brother in her company.

Sesshomaru was full youkai and even more callous than his name would imply. She knew him to be capable of acts that anything claiming a heart would have retched to contemplate. But he now served as a bed for the little female; his much larger frame spread full length atop the sofa with Kagome sprawled comfortably over his chest, both hands fisted in the long silvery mane he'd never allowed to be touched by anyone save himself.

_The last being who had dared an attempt was currently nursing the painful __regrowth__ of a hand._

The room had abruptly cleared itself of the others, both humans and youkai alike, as they took in the extraordinary sight, leaving two humans, two youkai, and a hanyou to deal with the 'odd couple'.

But she thought her heart might actually stop when she took a step forward to wake the pair. It has been said that an unconscious gesture will more closely mirror a being's truer nature, even more so of a youkai's beast. The Inu male's reflexive action was automatic and brutally clear. His lip had curled in a lethal baring of fangs, before his face had lowered into the curve of Kagome's shoulder, a low growl reaching their ears that was all the more disturbing for its quiet intensity. Muscle had rippled in coiled agitation through his shoulders and biceps under snug black knit, a warning to the intruders: the beast that lived just under the surface was both awake and aware…and highly displeased with their proximity.

Sango had hurriedly backed away, and by unspoken consent, all agreed to never speak of what they had just seen. Kagome did not need that kind of attention, either from those who might misunderstand the true extent of the Inu's actions due to the common failure of keeping a story strait as it became embellished by rumor…or the Inuhanyou, Inuyasha, who would blow a fuse followed by a microchip or two, before letting his mouth make accusations that would ruin their friendship…though the situation was pushing it, regardless.

Almost as if acting on instinct, the sleeping Kagome had reached up and pulled him closer to her throat as if to display her submission. The intuitive act seemed to calm the Inu, and he relaxed under her with a soft purr before the pair fell silent once more.

_Unfortunately, the list of those not informed also included the Western Lord…_

(present)----

Inuyasha couldn't move as he took in the sight of his brother and his best friend. His eyes were wide, his mouth gaping in something close to horror.

It was the annual party just after Kagome's twentieth birthday. The party was already in full swing by eleven p.m., the DJ jamming to the beat behind the mixers, the crowd on the floor displaying a lack of inhibition induced by good music and even better liquor. Bodies swayed in rhythms that suggested many would find themselves writhing in intoxicated abandon with their partners atop the closest bed in the not so distant future.

_We're a death-marching band_

_Peter Pan off the wagon_

_Entertain but never trust anyone sober._

_We're tasteless but taste good_

_My__(s)__top hat's top hated_

_Unsafe cheerleaders with_

_Porn __poms__ and pipe bombs_

_Have you ever danced with the devil by the pale moonlight?_

Kagome has.

It was a refrain that echoed about the hanyou's head, one that he could not silence no matter how he tried. Just as he could not shut out the sight of them, darkness and light entwined in lustful harmony.

It wasn't right that they looked so perfect, together.

Physically, they could not have been more diverse. The Inu was aggressively male, tall and powerfully muscled. Silver and golden by turns, though his eyes gave away the truth of his darkness, belying his angelic appearance. His smile was wickedness incarnate as his inhuman eyes danced possessively over his partner, who glowed against him like the very personification of purity. The female was small and pale, with a river of dark hair flowing to her hips as they rocked teasingly against the male to the heavy, industrial beat. Her eyes glowed brilliantly blue in the moonlight, and, though she was warm and kind, it was easy to see that she _knew _she belonged to the devil at her back. _And reveled in the ownership._

The male bent to nip at her bared throat as he lazily spun her, before tugging her against his chest. Sweetly bare limbs tangled with leather and velvet as she danced with Sesshomaru in a way that Inuyasha was almost certain should have been illegal.

He didn't know how he could have missed it…the way they touched each other, that knowledge of each other's bodies that was only to be found in long-time lovers.

He once remembered her asking him to dance with her at a school dance, but he had demurred, certain that she was unable to dance the way he liked especially when she had taken up belly dancing at fourteen. Even _if _he could have managed to dance with her and not feel terribly awkward, as if he were molesting some virginal librarian.

Now, his excuses had turned to ash in his mouth.

Her languid sensuality had found its match in effortless animal grace as the male slid up into the downward roll of her hips, a rounded thigh curling up over a leather clad hip as she dipped backwards into a tight arc over Sesshomaru's forearm, and but for their clothing he would have been inside of her. A change in the beat…a deeper sway of their bodies, and now it looked like nothing more than a provocatively elegant pantomime of a vertical fuck.

_Hell, he hadn't even known that his brother could dance, let alone in public. _

He felt the tips of his claws bite into his palms as he resisted the urge to tear into the male who had laid claim to the little female he had always privately considered his own. Maybe not in a romantic sense in the past, but she was his all the same.

And it was then that Inuyasha realized that he'd never had her at all, because Sesshomaru belonged to the girl, just as much as Kagome belonged to the beast.

_Nothing in this world is for real_

_Except you are for me and_

_I am so yours_

_xxxxxxxxxxxx_

a.n. – well, I was going to wait until I had finished Idiot's to post this, but it was calling, and I'm in a bit of a rut with Mirror, so I'll try this one for a while…


	2. Falling from Grace

_"How long?"_

He was so angry and agitated, that those were the only words he was capable of speaking. They covered a wide range of questions, everything from how long had they been hiding the nature of their relationship to how long they intended on keeping it from him. Never mind the one about how long Kagome and his brother had been sleeping together…and how they had managed to hide it from him in the first place.

It had taken Inuyasha much longer than he would care to admit to, to gain even a semblance of self control. Watching the pair of them amongst so many others, observing their uninhibited sensuality and the absence of surprise in his long time friends had given him the impression that he was most likely one of the last to know about their relationship. The knowledge had not helped his temper in the slightest, nor had the almost debilitating pain in his chest as he wondered if a heart could literally break from loss. He'd had to remove himself from the sight in self-defense, because he could not bear to see her touch his brother so intimately.

So now he stood in condemnation over the pair, as if to shame them into confession.

Yet Sesshomaru had always been shameless. He did not care what others thought, did not care for propriety or society's rules. He always did as he damned well pleased. The starkly black shaded lips curved in wicked mockery, emphasizing their lushly sensuous contours as the golden chill of his eyes glowed in the shadows from behind rogue strands of silver. _No…he cared nothing at all about his little brother's heartbr__eak. _

He did not even pretend to misunderstand the roughly voiced inquiry.

"Five years."

No hesitation. A marked lack of embarrassment in either tone or wording as he bluntly announced that he'd taken a fifteen year old girl into his bed at an age when he should not have.

It was not at all what Inuyasha had anticipated.

Not months…but _years. _And to have initiated a girl so innocent into the rough and heady world of youkai sexuality? It was enough to make his head spin. His belly tightened in dismay at the thought, and he was unable to block the images his traitorous mind provided of the delicate girl she had been, locked under the powerful form of his full youkai brother. He could so very easily have hurt her in ways he cringed to imagine.

_But at the same time, he couldn't help that darker part of himself that taunted him with images of what it could have been like if it had been himself. __Him pinning her down and forcing her to submit, because the first time was __**always **__about dominance._

He remembered his first time with Kikyo…barely able to hold himself back from the demands of his Inu nature. The first time with Suri, his next lover, had been much the same, though he'd gained just a modicum more control with his human partners as time had passed. Sesshomaru would not have made the attempt…

The elder Inu caught the tang of his brother's reluctant arousal and his eyes burned, even as he bent to run the small silver stud piercing his tongue up the line of her throat and over the fang marks that Inuyasha only just _now _took note of. That she openly shivered under his touch made the act all the more arousing to his baser animal nature.

_See what I have…? Want it…desire it…never touch it…_

Inuyasha growled at the unspoken provocation, a gesture that fell short when his brother returned it in a tone that rolled like the deepest and most threatening thunder. He felt it reverberate through his bones, and wisely chose to control himself because he had terrible memories of the results those few times he'd ignored the given warning.

He'd known that his brother was strangely partial to Kagome, even managing to ignore it when her scent was heavy with his brother's because he'd written it off to a strange sort of friendship and an Inu's instinctive need to touch those they protected. It had thoroughly pissed him off the first few times, even _with _that understanding. But his more practical nature had then placed a more pleasing appearance over the discovery.

Kagome had once been the victim of an attack while walking home from dance class one night during her fifteenth year. A group of Youkai had decided the little untrained Miko, whom they had observed for quite some time, would make good sport and the young males, all having recently crossed into the bounds of adulthood, had given chase to her, slowing down just enough to let her think that she might escape them only to laugh at her when she realized her mistake. All sons of minor noble families, each of them secure in their race's superiority and the need to prove themselves…against a small human girl. Bruised from her many falls and bloody from where they had cornered her against the razor wire fencing of an overly paranoid neighbor's yard, she still attempted to escape them. It amused them that the fencing had been intended to keep out youkai and they had thought it a humorous irony to bleed her on it.

But it was _their _mistake when she suddenly rounded a corner onto a street that they knew very well she did not live on. They had almost reached her for the last time, when _something_ had roared so viciously that they had been struck stupid with alarm and unable to move…the instinct of every would-be predator when confronted with something that proved in no uncertain terms that they were at the very bottom of the food chain they had thought they ruled.

_He_ had come stalking over the immense front lawns of the home the girl had bolted towards, drawn by the scent of blood belonging to the one person no one should have dared touch. Beautiful and all the more terrible to behold as his face twisted with his rage, they had the sudden and dreadful thought that Satan's own archangel had ascended to punish them for their transgression and they had shuddered with a fear they had never even known they could feel. His eyes had bled with hellfire and fury and he seemed to draw what was left of the light away from the surrounding night as he moved into the unnatural darkness that had trembled with the force of his unleashed power.

Inuyasha had witnessed his brother's transformation from his bedroom window, stunned into immobility, from a heartless and emotionally vacant creature into something he had to admit, even if only to himself, that he was afraid of.

Long, silvery strands ripped through the air in his wake as if riding an imagined wind as he advanced on the group, the graceful sway of the big Inu's stride further emphasized by a deliberate loosening of his muscles that always spelled bloodshed. Inuyasha was never certain what was said, because his brother's voice had degenerated into little more than a feral snarl. And he'd never before seen Kumayoukai cowed in such a fashion, their faces resembling the white of a ghost's. It was as if they could sense the sheer, overwhelming size of the beast that had taken control of the young Taiyoukai and knew what it hungered for.

Then, red had spilled over the ground as if to wash away the hideous trail marking Kagome's previous path, the scent of their blood reaching him from where he stood as The Killing Perfection demonstrated the aptness of his title and the merciless heart behind his flawless face. Even Inuyasha felt a touch of pity for the broken things that littered the grass in the wake of his brother's vengeance.

Luckily for the parents of such foolish young males, all had made a full recovery. But there was not a one who would ever go near the girl again. Their fathers had demanded justice for what they viewed as an unprovoked attack on their sons, because they did not see how their assault on one simple mortal girl could be considered provocation. She was human…she did not matter.

Such were the thoughts of too many even in these modern times, because racism was not limited to the color of one's skin.

But no youkai court would rule in the favor of six grown youkai battering a schoolgirl as being 'unprovoked'.

Sesshomaru had callously wiped his claws clean on the clothing of his prey before he'd turned and followed the path Kagome had taken before him. It had pleased him that they would understand their place and fear him…a much more fitting end in his mind then if he simply killed them and released them to the underworld to forget the lesson he had so enjoyed inflicting. Blood had streaked his perfect face as he absently licked traces of it from his lips before he'd smiled…and the Hanyou could not repress the shudder of dread as the other male passed from his view.

Now, Inuyasha was left to wonder if that night had been the catalyst for their relationship in regards to changing its parameters. Driven by the need to establish his possession of the girl, would he then have tracked the scent of her blood across the grounds only to give way to the need prove it by sexually dominating her? It was a tactic well-known to those males of the canine persuasion, though never incited by those whom the youkai cared casually for. The reason Inuyasha himself had been conceived. He'd just never imagined that his brother, cold and callous as he had always been, could be driven to such an end.

But…looking back, he now remembered that he had not seen Kagome for days after the incident. Not until the following Monday, when she had appeared, looking tired though strangely contented as she drifted through the halls. And much healthier than she had any reason to be. He could not have known that she had never left his home that night or that Sango had covered for her and told her mother that Kagome was staying with _her_for the weekend. He'd not been in the house that night or the following days, and so had written off the howling his neighbors had complained of as the continuing annoyance of the neighbor's dogs, no matter that they had claimed it had sounded like some huge, feral beast. His father had been out of the country, along with his mother on a trip to the States, while he had stayed over with Miroku, and so there had been absolutely nothing to prevent Sesshomaru from taking what had been tossed so conveniently in his lap. A tasty little bit of femininity that he had apparently savored with gusto. He could pin it to his own cowardice that he'd not gone to make certain of her wellbeing after what he had witnessed, because he'd waited until he was certain that he would not be encountering his brother along the way, before hastily shouldering his weekend bag and escaping with a sense of relief.

Faced with his own culpability, Inuyasha could only close his eyes and curse himself for his spinelessness. It had cost him much more than he would ever have anticipated. It had cost him the girl…and she would never be recovered. He sighed, before he turned on his heel and stepped from the room. The door sounded no more than a muffled click as it shut behind him.

Kagome's eyes were sad as she watched him leave the room. She still felt a deep affection for him, despite his sometimes careless treatment of her. It was just who he was, and she wouldn't have changed him even if she could have. She hadn't wanted to hurt him, but now she saw that her mate had been correct, no matter his seemingly cruel amusement over the revelation. It could not have been helped. She had always known that they did not get along, and had accepted it. Just as she had accepted that he could not help but rub Inuyasha's face in his loss, because he had sat with her the nights that his little brother had callously forgotten her as he pursued his fleeting relationships (really little more than casual flings), or shut her out of activities with the group. She would later find out that he had simply forgotten to mention them, and had covered his lapses with what he considered to be little white lies when the others would ask her if she was feeling better. She'd not known she was ill…

Naraku had taken it the hardest when he had finally discovered the discrepancies in the Hanyou's words and the Miko's reality. At first, he had confronted the girl, almost offended that she had failed to confront Inuyasha for his behavior. He had been oddly quiet in his tone before he realized that she hadn't said a word because she simply didn't know what to say…she'd never been the confrontational type. Then he'd taken it personally, and proceeded to take out his frustrations on his fellow Hanyou's face with a well-placed fist to the jaw.

Inuyasha had been so stunned, that he'd just stood there, gingerly touching his swollen jaw and watching with wide eyes as Naraku let him know in no uncertain terms that he was never to treat Kagome in such a fashion again…or he would regret it. He never mentioned that it would have been Sesshomaru that he would have gone to, because by then, the elder brother had taken Kagome under his protection as the truly Alpha of his species were prone to do with very few. He wouldn't even have to lift a hand to have Inuyasha learn the lesson he deserved for his lies, though he had not minded in the least throwing that first punch. So yeah, it was devious, but he was who he was, and he knew damned well that Inuyasha held a strange fear of his brother that he would never admit to anyone else. He wasn't blind; he could practically _f__ee__l_ Inuyasha cringe whenever he saw his brother smile in a certain way.

Sesshomaru pulled his eyes from the space his brother had just recently vacated, to turn a playful smirk on his mate…remembering when everything had begun…

----(past)

His nights were no longer peaceful.

His younger brother and friends had begun a habit of a study session three nights a week long before Sesshomaru had met Kagome. He'd made it a practice to avoid the youngsters for the most part, taking to his room or simply staying out to keep himself from encountering the annoying group. The older teens would sleep over after cramming, with the promise of a ride to school the next morning. The Western Lord had cheerfully been reduced to a taxi-driver for the half-aware adolescents, whistling show-tunes to himself as he zipped through traffic with the perfect precision of a formula-1 driver.

Kagome had come to be invited to join in with the group a few months after her thirteenth birthday, but by then everyone had their own assigned rooms, and it completely missed the Hanyou that the newest girl would need a place to sleep. So…the young Taiyoukai had offered her his _own_ room. Sesshomaru was rarely in the house on those evenings in the first months after her inclusion, though that had changed a short time later and it wasn't much longer after that before she'd become so comfortable with his night prowling nature that she'd ceased to be embarrassed when she went to sleep alone and awoke with him curled up around her.

It had been an easy transition from her first stammering weeks in his company in which she could do little more than blush and smile at him, but he'd pursued her company with infinite patience and an almost gentle determination. It was a heady thing, to be wanted by something so untouchable to any other. And if at first she had been a bit wary (who could blame her, he was almost frighteningly overwhelming), he'd soothed away all doubts with his quiet insistence on her presence. He'd often appeared when she sat on the sofa in his family room as she waited for Inuyasha and the others to appear after school. The males were involved in the school sports teams, the girls in volleyball and cheerleading. Kagome had had no interest in those pursuits, and had chosen to use the extra time to study for advanced classes. He'd occasionally assist her, but most afternoons were spent with him sitting at her feet and leaning against her legs with his head in her lap until she lost interest in her work in favor of running her fingers through silver locks.

At first, he'd been uncertain about protocol when faced with the prospect of a bedmate, having never really intended to _share_ the bed with her. Strangely hyper-aware and restless, he'd spent the first few nights sitting in the chair beside his bed watching her sleep…when he wasn't crawling under the bedding after her, driven by an instinctive craving for contact that he'd no more understood than he did the reasons he did not resist. Just like he hadn't understood how he would fall asleep on his back on one side of the bed only to awaken a few hours later with her tucked into his body, his thighs cradling her hips and her face pressed against his throat. It had startled him that he'd already bared his throat to her when it first started to happen, though he knew that it had all been his own doing. She wouldn't have understood the significance at that point in time, but it wasn't lost on _him._

_Ye__t it became__ even__ worse when she __**wasn't **__with him._

He'd never been far from the beast in terms of temperament, never one to deny himself anything his more instinctual nature desired, so her absence from his bed threw him off. Bare months had passed before he didn't sleep for want of her company, the thin veneer of civility he maintained submerging as his more feral nature rode the edge of his control and became easily provoked. He was unsure as to when exactly it happened…when exactly he discovered that he could not ascertain just what it was that he needed from the little Miko, what it was that caused him to desire her presence more than any other, and he'd been astounded to feel himself becoming frustrated and all the more determined to discover whatever it was that called to him.

From that point, he'd begun crawling through her bedroom window on some nights for a few hours at a time. He was always long gone by first light, but it sated the need for contact. She always welcomed him in with a sleepy smile as she tugged him down on the bed and under the bedclothes. He would discover that he could finally relax for the first time that day as he lay there, listening to the quiet of her shrine home. And through all of it, he never lost his desire to stay gentle for her. His desire to allow her to take comfort in him, inexplicable and foreign to him as that need was.

It was a year down from the time he'd begun spending time with the girl. Six months after he finally admitted that he knew he had a problem on his hands. He'd allowed it to come to this…had no one to blame but himself.

_Because he had found himself becoming physically attracted to a female who was little more than a child._

Some youkai were known to display little to no sex drive until they reached the year of their full maturity. Until _then_ he had assumed he was one of them, but the truth had figuratively smacked him upside the head. The only thing that gave him comfort was the fact that he wasn't attracted to her because of her age, but in spite of it. He wasn't a pedophile. And he could wait.

Strangely, her presence soothed the beast's demands and he found that his libido downshifted as if in reaction to her immaturity. He'd never before had patience…and was vaguely surprised to find that he had it in abundance when it came to Kagome. He could afford to take his time in capturing her heart, because he knew she wasn't going anywhere. Even if she _hadn't _been as attracted to him as she was, high demon's held a lure all their own and so he would bide his time…and deny even to himself what it cost him.


	3. Beneath the Surface

**3. ****Beneath**** the Surface**

She could remember when, exactly, it was that she had realized the truth of the mated pair before her. The small looks that promised more than simple friendship...the touches that lingered far longer than they should have to be considered platonic. She recalled when…_exactly_…she had caught on to the charade, even if she might have missed the moment when they themselves had realized the truth of their own connection. Because looking back, she could see glaring hints of the precise nature of their attachment to one another.

Even before 'that night' as she had come to think of it.

At first, she'd been embarrassed by her lack of intuition._ How could she have possibly missed it?_ Small gestures, such as the gentle way he handled the female despite the brutal strength so casually on display in every movement he made. In fact, to her memory, Kagome had not _once _borne so much as a scratch at his hands. She'd even witnessed the extraordinary sight of the male _retracting _his claws whenever he touched his mate. It was unheard of, something that had struck a chord in her mind, though she'd not yet known what to make of it. It was that very observation that had first brought her attention to his hands, themselves. Strong and cleanly shaped, though strangely elegant despite all of the hard use they endured, they were an exact mirror of the male in their own fashion. Away from Kagome's presence, they appeared to be nothing more than an extension of the young Inu lord's more heartless nature, the claws sharply honed and willing to rend the flesh of anything that boasted the stupidity of getting in his way.

Then, Kagome would enter the room, and those hands, equally adept at both blade and bare-handed cruelty, would reshape themselves into something able to caress her fragile humanity with a slow and deft gentility that was uniquely for her.

It was by watching his hands that Kagura had gained any ability to read the Inu at all, for his eyes, those supposed windows to one's soul, were flat and coldly predatory to her. The gold eyes so sharp that she occasionally found herself shivering as if she had indeed been sliced by them. She had never shared her observations with the rest, because she did not trust any of _them _to refrain from opening their big mouths in his hearing. She never wanted to be left unprepared in his presence, even as rarely as she found herself in it. Having grown up with an uber-devious sibling, she was well taught in the art of keeping her observations close to the chest. And spilling the beans in such a public manner would be akin to turning her back on the danger he represented by drawing his attention to any type of 'tell' in his actions. Because, after all, one never turned one's back, metaphorical or otherwise, to a predator of his caliber.

Her next response, after she had worked though the mortification of her blindness, was anger. How could Kagome have failed to _tell _her? Was she so insignificant in the other female's life that she did not warrant the knowledge of such a momentous change in her friend's life? But it had taken her even less time to move beyond _that_ pointless emotion than it had the first one, because she was no fool…and she realized that it was her _own_ fault for missing what was now painfully obvious.

Though how she could have continued missing the cues _after _one specific incident almost made her laugh at herself in self-disgust.

It had come at the beginning of Kagome's now infamous seventeenth year, and Inuyasha was attempting to taunt his brother about _anything_ at all, having had just a bit too much to drink at the time. The elder Inu was in a strangely indulgent mood that night, an amused, faintly mocking smile curling his well-shaped lips. She was quick to note that Kagome had been present, an observation she was beginning to make more and more often when it came to Sesshomaru when in his more affable of moods. His younger brother was weaving faintly where he stood, one eye half shut in an almost piratical fashion, a soft slur to his words as he mentioned that his brother _never_ changed his hairstyle, and what, was he stuck in the feudal era, or something? Did he have such trust issues that he couldn't let the family hair dresser cut off some of it….like a foot at least? Or was it simply that said creature was…_gasp_…a human?

Now, in all honesty it could have been simple jealousy talking. All one sleek length, Sesshomaru's hair flowed in a silvery sweep almost to his ankles and there wasn't a female( and quite a wide variety of males) alive and over the age of one and a half that could honestly deny the urge to run their fingers through the gleaming strands, no matter their sexual orientation.

But for some reason, that night, the big Inu had stood without a word and swept from the room, with a curious but game Kagome in tow. They had assumed that he had simply reverted to form and removed himself yet again from Inuyasha's rambling, which now consisted of loud objections and curses as he accused the hat rack of trying to trip him up when he couldn't properly see to defend himself. And it seemed that Inuyasha would then be left to fend for himself as they began to tune him out in favor of finishing up their previous conversation, when the strangest sound reached them from the other room.

A soft buzzing sound that almost sounded like-

They had all eyed each other, before six people abruptly tossed their things aside to follow the other two, only to be blocked as they reached the bathroom. Tiny giggles and low masculine laughter wafted through the door; halting the hand that Sango had lifted in preparation to rap her knuckles against the heavy wood.

"Do your worst, little girl," the male snarled playfully, his voice faintly muffled through the thick wood of the door. The tone brought about a bug-eyed effect on the human female, and she turned to gaze to Kagura._ A_t that point, the youkai female realized that what she had begun to observe between the two in the bathroom had yet to be seen by any of the others. Sure, that first incident four years ago had stuck in her mind, but it had taken _years _for her to begin to realize that it was a completely normal behavior. At least…normal for a predatory male youkai when protecting the one he'd chosen as a future mate.

_She had only just discovered that little tidbit a few weeks ago, and guarded it even more zealously than her knowledge of how to read his moods. And it had also never occurred to her that the young, youkai lord had, himself, been unaware of the actions of his beast on that long ago night._

Now, she wasn't alone in her suspicions. Sango blinked as the most improbable of sounds came from behind the locked door. A low, male rumble of contentment that she had never imagined him capable of. _'Oh, just wait, honey, _the Kazi thought to herself, _'it gets better.'_ And of course, it _would _be another female to pick up on undercurrents, though to Sango's credit, she was hindered by her lack of youkai senses and so it had taken her just a bit longer than Kagura herself. The two females had exchanged glances and silent promises to compare notes later that evening, because if it was a fair trade, then she was losing nothing in the exchange even if she continued to keep those two things to herself.

But even at _that _point, she was still in the dark. Yet she continued to replay the memory, as it had provided one of the best laughs she'd ever had.

A stranger had emerged from the bathroom in the wake of a giggling Mini-Miko. He'd taken up the dare with spectacular enthusiasm…and he'd given Kagome the clippers without a qualm. A thick rope of silver was flipped over his stunned little brother's shoulders as he'd smirked and sauntered by with that lovely, loose limbed stride, every muscle rippling under his tawny flesh in an almost hypnotic manner. The impossibly broad width of his shoulders were now exposed by both the lack of the distraction of his unusual hair and the shirt he'd removed while allowing Kagome to work her magic.

His hair had been cut until the razored tips just barely grazed the arrogant thrust of his jaw and Kagome had sheared off the underside to the temple, leaving behind just enough to make you want to stroke him and feel the cat's-fur-like softness. Glittering locks dipped occasionally before his golden gaze, before he'd toss them back with an absent flick of his fingers. And in the years to come, it would always give the impression of having been lovingly stroked by playful female fingers…for hours at a time. _Which Kagura_ _now knew to be the __case._

Inuyasha had gaped, even as Sesshomaru tauntingly stuck his tongue out at him with almost childish glee, the silver stud through his tongue catching the light and seeming to add to the mocking gesture. The hanyou had blinked and seemed to rapidly sober up as his now rather exotic looking brother bent to nip Kagome on the shoulder in passing, before tugging her up the stairs after him for the night.

_"When did he get his tongue pierced?" _was the only thing he had thought to ask.

Kagura had rolled her eyes; because that was the _least_ important thing he should have been asking. And because she had just begun realizing that Kagome did not, in fact, sleep in her own room…but with the young Inu lord. And most especially because she just remembered that when Mrs. Higurashi had once again been relocated, the kindly western Lord had simply added the long-wished-for female 'pup' to his family and taken her in to prevent yet another move for the child…but she had to wonder if that decision had been influenced by his eldest son's mating of the girl.

So many questions had rolled about her head, and having not enough answers was completely unacceptable to her. So she had sat and observed for another three months before the truth had finally been all but shoved into her face…

----(past)

Kagura had giggled at the antics of the human mates as one pretended to ogle the waitress, and the other pretended to smack the first one silly. They never failed to bring her a smile or two, because everyone close to them knew that Miroku would _never _stray just as Sango would never truly raise her hand to him in anger. It was an ongoing in-joke amongst them that a great many folks had failed to understand over the years, occasionally creating confusion with the females that took the young monk seriously and wished to pursue the suggestion in his mischievous violet eyes…never realizing that the suggestion was for the young huntress alone.

A commotion across the room drew her eyes to Inuyasha and his on-again-off again lover…a rather selfish 'bitch' named Kikyo. For her own part, Kagura could barely stomach the snooty human female, and even _less _so when her brother had informed her of the wench's actions against Kagome…and while she may not have been as overt as her brother, she was every bit as protective. Kagome was an oddity amongst humans, let alone Miko-kind, and she wasn't about to let anything change her friend. Because, while her brother was devious, Kagura, herself, was downright Machiavellian. She just hid it better.

Shippo and his newest girl had drawn Naraku, Sango and Miroku, as well as herself into a drinking game, while Kagome perched on her barstool, quietly observing the crowd and almost seeming to try to blend into the background. She had allowed herself to be dragged from her homework. She bit her lip as Kikyo suddenly screeched in a tone that would hurt a _human's _ears…she couldn't imagine the pain it would produce in a youkai's far more sensitive ears. Apparently, it was unbearable, because the girl was suddenly surrounded by a crew of growling youkai bouncers. Inuyasha had made an honest attempt at chivalry and tried to defend her even as she continued to berate him, but soon found himself ejected along with his loudmouthed female. The two of them argued all the way out the door, and the rest of those left behind breathed a sigh of relief as the door swung shut behind them.

_Kagura was uncomfortably aware, however, that she would never hear the end of it when they returned to the house for the night. __Because Kikyo was completely incapable of __**not **__attempting to force others into choosing 'sides'._

And yet…Kagome appeared to be almost uninterested in their games. She would sigh occasionally, seeming to be reciting mathematical equations under her breath from time to time. Sesshomaru had been out of town for the last three weeks and the girl had appeared to feel his loss in ways that Kagura did not understand. For his own part, the Inu had originally refused to leave, but his presence was demanded by the youkai council in regards to a certain personal matter. Kagura had mentally scoffed, because she thought it far more likely that he had simply bloodied yet another council leader's son for sticking his mouth where it had no business being.

But it had all boiled down to-

_"SESSHO!"_

Only Kagome would have dared to call him that, just as only Kagome would have gotten away with it as he swept her out of her seat and embraced her in that strangely possessive way he had.

The music in the club was loud enough to keep the attention of most of the patrons, but the rest? They blinked in disbelief as one of the most notorious bastards of the modern known world hefted a human female, then appropriated her barstool and twirled her about in his arms before dropping her into his lap.

The faintest of sounds…a muffled click with a slightly rougher _shhhnct_...went unnoticed by the rest of the population. As did the way Kagome stiffened at the impact of her bottom across the male's thighs. Her blue eyes widened as if in shock, though she managed to school her face into a blandly relaxed expression in mere moments.

_The Kazi had the oddest suspicion, just then, that there was more to her apparent surprise than simply the abruptness of his actions._

Sesshomaru had wrapped an arm about the Miko's waist as he reached the other around to snag her drink, downing it and signaling for the server to bring her another to replace it. The residual tension in Kagome's body finally dissipated as she leaned back into the heat of his body, tucking her head under his chin with an almost contented sigh. And Kagura would almost have believed the show they presented, that of quiet companionship, but for one tiny detail.

_Every time the Inu shifted under her, Kagome would tremble. The subtlest flex of his thighs, the twist of his hips as he re-adjusted his position on the barstool._

At first, she had not known what to make of the tiny tremors running through the girl. The gooseflesh that occasionally appeared over her arms and legs spoke of a faint chill, but Kagura had spent enough time with predator males to know that it would be almost impossible to take a chill when cuddled up to one. They had a higher internal temperature than most, and they were never selfish in sharing their warmth with those they claimed. Nor were they a prudish lot, caring little for other's opinions of their public actions.

In fact-

A loud noise had drawn her attention just then, and she had turned to see Koga and his new mate as they came through the door, laughing and chatting loudly with a couple of the bouncers as they checked ID's and grinningly allowed them in without the cover-free. They were, after all, long time costumers, and the bouncers in question had at one time been sprung from jail by the Ookami during a brawl gone wrong a few years ago when the instigator had claimed to be the victim. The two were, in fact, defending Koga's little cousin from the unwanted advances of a drunken Hebiyoukai. Koga had stepped up and claimed the two older males as pack-mates, as their own families were across the country, providing them with the backing they needed to gain a good lawyer. The two were tall and lean, the one who currently bore a blue mohawk grinning as he bowed to his friend's mate and set her to giggling. And Kagura knew from personal experience that those two were in fact, despite appearances, far more bite than bark. She almost shivered as the other turned and winked at her, before dragging his cohort off to resume duties, because she just knew by that look whose bed she was going to fall into later that night.

_Walking the __wildside__ had never been so fun as it had become when they had joint-claimed her._

She'd never even considered such a thing, before one night last year when she'd had a bit too much to drink and had woken pressed between two warm male bodies…head a bit fuzzy and her body pleasantly sore.

The oddest part was that the two had absolutely no interest in each other sexually. All their considerable attention went into pleasing _her _and, oh lord, did they do it well! Their youkai natures prevented anything so ridiculous as homophobia, leaving them with very few inhibitions when it came to the touch of another male as they directed each other into acts that could make her head spin…and very frequently _did_.

She remembered gasping in dismay as she realized that, not only had she actually _slept _with someone…but that it was in fact _two _someone's. She had felt shame and fear, because not only had she managed to lose her virginity, she could not remember having done so or the circumstances that had lead to her being sandwiched between two rather lovely males. But any doubt had soon gone the way of the Dodo as the two had then quietly gone about 'convincing' her to let them keep her. They had been most persuasive.

She remembered the anticipation she had felt that night, before she managed to bring herself back under control just as the two Ookami mates sat beside her. The female had turned and given Kagura a brief hug before jumping into the conversation with the others at the table, snickering as the rules of the game were announced and shots passed about the table.

And Kagura might even have missed it _then_…but for the strangest look that suddenly flashed into Koga's eyes. He'd blinked, surprise flickering into his cobalt eyes as he turned to the pair almost hidden in the shadows. Kagome did not notice the look, but Sesshomaru was, as always, sharply aware of his surroundings. His golden eyes were hooded and almost unreadable, but his hands? They were slowly kneading the Miko's thighs as they lay splayed over his own. And for that fraction of an instant, when Kagome's skirt pulled up she caught a glimpse of a bare hip wrapped in dark, curving marks before the Inu smoothed the fabric back into place.

_Kagura_ _knew for a __**fact **__that Kagome never went fancy-free in a skirt!_

But she was _then_ and-

A low chuckle, almost inaudible, came from the Ookami male just then, and Kagura had only just managed to curb the desire to smack the male for having discovered the answer to the questions she had been struggling with for months before _she _had. _Stupid predator youkai and their highly developed senses! _It wasn't fair! She had been the _first _to notice the almost hidden undercurrents between the two, damnit!

And then she knew.

Under the guise of stretching, Sesshomaru had slid down in his seat as his body rolled upward into the motion.

Kagome had paled, choked, then flushed furiously. All in that order. She'd hastily snatched up her drink before attempting to cover her lapse by downing it as hurriedly as she could manage. But Kagura had heard the soft gasp that had been forced from her as the male under her shifted yet again, setting his heels onto the bar and arching even further as if to stretch his back.

The small female clutched his forearms as if to keep her balance as she abandoned her glass, only just managing to get it on the table and not dump it to the floor.

_Oh, Kagura had known it, then…_

A subtle smirk curved the full lips as if in satisfaction, and Kagura heard the choked laughter of the Ookami as he subtly inclined his head in answer to the other's shameless audacity. Because the Inuyoukai had just managed to _fuck _the little miko in front of their faces…before their very eyes, under their noses….and had gotten away with it.

She had wanted to gape, but she had curbed the urge with more self control that she had even been aware she possessed.

She had solved the mystery…and she could scarcely believe it.

Kagome- _little, very nearly prudish, Kagome_- had allowed it. No. Because even here Kagura had realized that she must correct herself yet again. Kagome had _enjoyed _it. The way she lay almost boneless against the male told it as surely as if she'd spoken the words aloud. The dreamy quality of her heavy-lidded blue eyes and the almost satiated curl of her bowed lips. It was just subtle enough to pass for sleepiness, and so there was no mention of anything out of the ordinary.

And she was left to wonder just how many times this had happened…and no one had seen it. Never noticing the way Sesshomaru became even wickeder of tongue in his post-orgasmic haze, because they never realized the timing of it all even as his propensity for physical violence dropped in direct correlation.

And when the club closed for the night, long after Kagura had gone home and come to curl up between her sleeping males, she finally allowed the smile to cross her face. Because she realized that not only had she been one-upped by a master in terms of slyness…but that she now had a perfect understanding of the concept of 'morally ambiguous', because the big Inu was the card-carrying deviant poster-child of the concept.

(present)----(

A red-clad figure slipped through the bodies on the dance floor, and Kagura had enough presence of mind to take note of a rather distraught looking hanyou as he quietly made for the door.

_Had they finally been brazen enough for even Inuyasha's willful blindness?_

It appeared to be so, because the door he had exited soon opened once again as Sesshomaru and Kagome appeared through the doorway. They appeared to be having a private word, before rejoining the throng of bodies swaying in the darkness. She hugged her own two males closer to her as she smiled. And wondered at the ways of the world in which a miko could be the perfect mate to a youkai.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

_a.n__. – well…it's become apparent that Sesshomaru has once again managed to take control of yet another story…_


	4. The Art of Freedom

--(past)

Kagome chewed her bottom lip as she nervously eyed her canvas, tucking a short strand of wildly tussled wavy black hair behind her ear. Her nerves were strung taut, though she was firm in her convictions. She breathed in deeply, filling her lungs with much needed air…holding it there for endless moments…before letting it escape her in a slow exhalation, trying to allow the sounds of the rainfall to sooth her.

_She could do this! He was __**counting**__ on her to do this!_

She raised her hand, her chosen artistic instrument held between carefully steadied fingers.

She had trained herself for the past nine months for just this moment. And while she knew she was fully capable, when it came down to the deed, she found herself second guessing her ability. Her teacher had assured her that she would excel in this…and so far, he had been proven correct. She remembered the very first time she had implemented his teaching and the pride on his face as she had succeeded magnificently on her 'maiden voyage'. The recipient of her efforts had been kindly encouraging, fully expecting to bear the brunt of any mistake on her part…yet there had been none. Of course, his kindness might also have been about the artist herself, because she was a unique sort of beauty that was rarely seen. The man had been fully aware of how dangerous it could have been if he had so much as touched her in any way outside the demands of her present occupation. And that had only added to the appeal…

Now, Kagome tried not to fidget as her canvas lay quiet and willing under the needle.

On his own, stretched nude as he lay face down on the table with his chin propped on his crossed forearms, Sesshomaru was a work of art. She was still slightly unsure how she had managed to attract someone like him…but somehow she had, and it had led to this very moment.

Unable to mark him in the ways of his own kind, they had found another way around his innate need to be marked as hers.

_That, and his father's newest attempt at bringing him in line had prompted his sudden burst of creativity._

When told that his father had possibly found him a potential mate in the daughter of a minor youkai noble from Europe, he had only barely managed to keep from leaping over the mammoth desk and gutting his own Sire. The instantaneous flare of rage he had disguised behind hooded eyes, even as he had stood in stony silence before his ignorant father, who had foolishly informed him that he was to slowly wean himself away from the presence of the Miko, because such a relationship was unseemly of a promised young male. Certainly, the elder male knew that he was connected to the young human girl that he had allowed his sons to bring into his home. But he had been unaware of the fact that his son had mated her almost a year ago.

That night, Sesshomaru had contacted an old friend who had taken up a slightly more alternative profession, that of a tattoo artist. He'd been just a bit leery at first, of the ability of such a young female. But had swallowed his doubts and allowed her to practice by drawing out more and more complicated pieces…before letting her embellish them. She'd displayed a natural talent that had first stunned, then delighted him. He'd taken her designs and worked them into the flesh of his customers. And then he'd taught her the same craft.

Sesshomaru was nothing if not cunning, and while it would take a bit of careful maneuvering it was completely doable. He had marked her as was proper, but she had yet to do the same what with her lack of the proper fangs of a youkai female. But with the almost ritualistic marking of a youkai in their coming of age, his opportunity would present itself.

_And it had._

The Inu male was now twenty years of age, and was due the markings of his rank. Kagome had sat by on the few nights where he had pondered the placement, shape, and coloration acceptable for his station. But it had all been for naught, when he had completely bypassed the Taiyoukai class and the required markings. Instead, he was to be marked as Warlord-class Daiyoukai.

The almost feline-like striping over his shoulders, biceps, hips, thighs and calves were to be a darkly metallic shade, instead of the expected blood red. The effect against his deeply tawny flesh was striking in the extreme, though it only seemed to add to his fiercely inhuman appearance. Years past, his face would also have borne the markings, but now it was left to choice and he had other uses in mind for those 

particular sets of stripes.

There was only the faintest twitch of muscle as the needle finally alighted on his shoulder blade. His breathing remained untroubled and slow as she pressed the needle in…then further still in accommodation of his youkai healing abilities. The entire project would be done much deeper than would have been required on a human's body, the ink infused with his own blood to give it permanence as his youkai power recognized and accepted the additions as a natural part of his own being. It was highly unlike the silver stud he had just had pierced through his tongue the hour before, because that small intrusion would be healed long before she placed the final touch on his tattoos.

The Miko slowly regained her confidence in her skill as she progressed; carefully blotting away the blood and excess ink with a soft cloth as it accumulated before it could roll down the slope of his ribs. The needle gun vibrated in her hand and she occasionally would switch the instrument to the other, shake away the tingling in her fingers resulting from the higher setting, before resuming her task. He watched her from under the dark sweep of his lashes, his very own onyx-haired pixy wielding a needle gun, while the dark marks slowly climbed their way from the back of the muscled slope of trapezius and deltoid to trail halfway down his pectorals. Another set wrapped around his biceps in stylized tiger stripes. She couldn't help running her fingers over the powerful thighs as she began to ink them, even though his low, dark laughter followed in the wake of her touch with shiver inducing heat. She had offered to stop a time or two to give him time to breathe and relax, but he had refused every opportunity, and she half suspected that he was just plainly enjoying this.

And she was proven correct when he sat up with that faintly devious curl of his lips that she had found often to be accompanied by his blatant physical arousal. He shifted his weight, before coming to stand before her, almost daring her to touch what was now at eye level as she sat on the slightly elevated chair. He shivered as his hair flipped down over his back and brushed over the sensitivity of his freshly tattooed form, the sensation a painfully pleasurable chill that continued the erosion of his grasp over his hunger for his mate. And her small hands settling over his hips as she encouraged him to turn about so she could continue did not help matters.

This had been left deliberately for the last…because it was the most vital. Sesshomaru almost groaned as she once again set the needle to his body, beginning from just brushing his gorgeous butt, curving around his lean hips, before dipping in to point teasingly towards his ever more painfully aroused cock. He was almost shuddering by that point, thankful that it was nearly over before he damaged her work with his inability to hold himself in check. His eyes were already bleeding with lust as he sank his fangs into his lower lip to distract himself from throwing her against the nearest wall and 'staking' his claim in the most graphic and forceful of ways.

Then she was done. The buzzing abruptly ended as she switched off the needle gun and watched as he slowly brought himself to heel before he turned to glance at her over his shoulder. He seemed to become both more controlled, yet increasingly restless, as he stood there with a look of tense watchfulness…as if one quick movement would set him off.

_She was half tempted to make that move…_

But the moment passed and he moved to help her set everything safely aside, before he lifted her from her seat and set her on the table he'd abandoned. That wicked smile was back in place as he noted the faint wariness in her eyes, the way she watched him as if he may very well devour her.

"You ready for this, Miko?"

The husky, nearly solemn, tone was completely at odds with the way his hands had begun to strip her of her own clothing. She shivered as the cool air hit her newly exposed body, her bare breasts bouncing as he tugged her top up over them. The small, firmly rounded mounds caught his attention and he watched them for a moment as if entranced before a soft growl escaped him and he continued where he'd left off. He pressed her backwards against the cool leather of the tabletop; her jeans were stripped upwards over her thighs and calves where her delicate feet rested atop his shoulders, lightly pressing against the slightly raised dark slashes of the tattoos. His fangs grazed her left ankle as he leaned into her, his lips nipping to sooth the scrapes before he slid his tongue along the graceful arch of her foot.

She squirmed and giggled as she felt his lips curve against her toes, before he moved on and set his hands around the upper curve of her hips and rocked them backwards. The position did not allow her to sit upright, though she could still reach his shoulders after he shrugged her 

feet from them and bent over her prone form.

She muffled a small gasp as his lips traced patterns over her breasts and shoulders, heat searing her skin in their path. "Are y-you sure you want it to be this way? I'm a-ah sure that we can-"

"_This_ way, Miko." Where his words might have failed to cut off her stuttering protests, wrapping his lips around a puckered nipple and roughly suckling had managed to succeed. Her protests died a painless death as his mouth tugged at her, and she bent instinctively into place, curling her heels behind his thighs and spreading her own to hug his hips. He hissed as the pressure dug into the needled flesh, but it wasn't nearly hard enough to satiate him.

Wrapping her hands around his neck finally gave her the leverage needed to press herself against him, and he allowed it as he released her hips, his hands shifting downward to squeeze the rounded cheeks of her backside, lifting her upwards for a moment before he took her breath away with an endless, impossibly slow thrust into her waiting body. She squirmed as she took him in, forcing herself to relax, to breathe and welcome the invasion. No matter how many times they'd done this, she was never entirely prepared for the way he seemed to overwhelm and dominate everything that made her female. That very first time, it had terrified her, because she couldn't have known just how completely he would take her over, and he hadn't been in the headspace to offer her any sort of comfort.

Now, she knew that he felt just as taken, just as lost in her, only he welcomed that sense of abandon with his lover.

"It's time, little girl," he purred the nickname; one he used whenever he dared her into moving out of her comfort zone. And she never failed to meet him head on in anything. Her hands left his shoulders and slid down his chest to his hips. She hesitated there, for a moment, and he growled softly to urge her on, sliding back and driving deeper. She inhaled sharply…and her nails dug into his hips to hold him. It was exactly the thing he craved, and when he repeated the motion with a sliding twist that had had her arching into him, the tenderness of his needle softened flesh giving under her grip as her nails sliced into him with four tiny, perfect crescents over each hip where she purposefully broke the pattern of the tattoo. The tattoos, themselves, were a symbolic marking from his mate's hands that would hold weight in any court. But the small nail marks were very personal…and permanent, now. They marked him, like an autograph of sorts, as her lover in a way that he knew would not be refuted.

But such thoughts were fading as she relaxed against him just enough to allow him to begin a short, sharp rhythm. "Harder."

She trembled, but complied, because she knew that this event was both momentous and unforgettable and she wanted him to take everything he needed. Her nails dug deeper and he howled.

She lay quiet under him for a moment, before throwing herself into motion. Her legs looped higher around his back and it opened her further, _allowing_ him that everything. She sank her teeth into him as if she could give him what he had craved, starting for a moment as her small, human canines opened his shoulder. But he held her there when she would have drawn away, and soon she was biting him with all the demand of a proper Inu bitch, growling back at him as best she could and matching his increasingly more powerful thrusting, further marking him with dainty teeth marks through the nearly healed bands over his left shoulder. She had never been a passive partner, but this was making new inroads into her own uninhibited responses to her occasionally feral lover.

Sesshomaru abruptly lifted her from the table and pivoted to press her against the cold wall. The contrast made her jump, chilled from her nape to her bottom, heated everywhere else, and now trapped as she had nowhere to escape his ever growing intensity. _Not that she could ever want to…_

Rumbling growls and low vibrating purrs shivered down her body along with waves of a pure glittering pleasure that swept her away from herself. Tumbling her up for a moment, before dragging her back down and then forcing her higher still.

He turn to watch her as she rolled her head back against the wall, enjoying the way her eyes slid shut and her cupid's bow of a mouth tipped upwards into a small blissful smile. He didn't notice the way he smiled in return, almost gentle as he eased out of the heavy driving pace he'd previously set, before he dipped his head, unable to resist the lure of _tasting _her smiling lips. She welcomed him with every bit of the 

generosity that her body had shown his own, even as he lifted her hands from his hips to teasingly pin them to the wall on either side of her head, lightly raking the small silver stud along her palate. Only, teasing with him still meant that she could not pull free, and the only movement possible was to arch her back in acceptance with each of his rolling thrusts.

"_Good?" _His voice was barely more than a murmur, but she heard him.

"Yessss…" Her voice trailed off on a hiss, as she felt the beginnings of her climax begin to tighten her body, her heart thudding in her chest. He stiffened for a moment at the sensation, before he drove in full stretch and held. She mewled as she came apart, and he grunted as he attempted to hold back, but it was in vain as the pressure that had been building abruptly released…taking the tension from his body with it. He slowly sank onto his heels, easing her into his lap as he went, and Kagome felt his heart thundering under her cheek.

A car drove by the outside of the shop with a muffled splash as it drove through a small lake in the middle of the road, the continued rainfall making a quiet pattering against the roof.

And Sesshomaru knew that his future, along with his mate's, was once again under his own control.

_** two days later**_

Sugimi Taisho sat in his darkened office with his head in his hands.

Up until this very night, he'd been unaware of how little control he still held over his eldest son. Namely…none at all.

When he'd informed the younger male of his impending political alliance, i.e. his mating to a business partner's young daughter, he'd assumed that his son was either open to it, or that he simply did not care one way or the other. And when he'd told him that he was to sever his ties to the little female he'd become so oddly attached to, he'd assumed that his son would obey.

But not even ten minutes ago, that same son had stalked into his office with coldly flat eyes and with a studied calm pulled his shirt over his head to display the newly acquired marks of his rank. He had surpassed his Taiyoukai father, and the elder Inu saw that the promise of power in his progeny had more than lived up to its boasts. He'd opened his mouth to congratulate him, when something in the stance of his eldest caught his attention…a _challenging_ stillness at odds with his previous simple silence.

He fought back the oddest reaction, one he'd never felt the need for with his own family in the past; the need to bare his fangs and reassert his dominance. The urge was so foreign to him, one that he had not felt in centuries, that he was almost unable to process the accompanying emotions such as shock, unease…and the most uncomfortable sense that he no longer held any sway whatsoever over the other male.

It was a strangely frightening realization, as it threatened his perception of his family and his place in their lives.

Then he shook away the seeming insanity of it. His son had yet to move from his place before his desk, and while his body language spoke of aggression, he made no overtly threatening gestures. "Is there anything you needed, son? The work is beautiful, by the way. Who is the artist?"

He assumed it was one of the youkai artists that were trained for centuries in the art and only to be had by the most affluential families.

He found himself fighting not to squirm under the unwavering intensity of the chill golden eyes, feeling as if he were being measured against some unknown percentage. And was being found wanting.

Sugimi suddenly realized that he had no idea what was going on in his son's head. It had been years since he'd held an actual conversation with the boy and now he felt the distance between them. And it was brought home with brutal efficiency with Sesshomaru's words.

"My mate."

His words gave emphasis to the revelation as the Taiyoukai caught sight of small 'decorations' against the young Daiyoukai's tawny flesh, so casually bared yet proudly displayed. And it was as his son turned from him and moved back to the door that he realized just how estranged he and his son had become.

"_You lose, old man."_

Then he was gone…moving through the shadows as if he belonged in them.

Now here he sat, contemplating this newest turn of events. He didn't know how he had failed to notice any of it. And if at first he might have been inclined to blame it on the priestess, only a moment's worth of rethinking told him that his first line of reasoning was faulty. Because she would _never _have urged him to defy his father's wishes, nor would she have conceived of physically scarring someone the way she had been called upon to do.

For a few moments, he felt a profound sense of grief as he realized that he'd lost the respect of his son. Allowed him to slip from his grasp and become someone he was unsure could ever be reached. The level tone had spoken of loss, losing his merger certainly, but not giving voice to the loss he suffered of his very own son. He was not even family to the younger Inu…simply an obstacle to be circumnavigated

He let the scene replay itself in his head, but even still, all he saw was detached rebellion. And the most painful part about it, was the fact that it was all brought home over a topic that he now realized was terribly unimportant. His son's happiness should have been all that he sought. Not a higher number in a list of columns that raised a monetary value. His son's respect was worth infinitely more.

And he began to consider the ways to reach the creature Sesshomaru had become, through coldness and detachment…his perfect power now being worn in perfect defiance.

(present)--

The Western lord smiled from a distance as he watched as two of his children danced in the moonlight, careless of the world and complete in each other's embrace. It had taken years to restore himself in his son's eyes, but the time spent was well worth every moment in his own estimation. Along the way he'd gained a greater understanding of his youngest son's failings…and his human mate's needs. Somewhere along the way, he'd lost sight of what it meant to be a father, as well as a mate. That very night so long ago, he'd sat Izayoi down and placed himself at her feet as he had begun to confess his sins. They had spilled from him in an endless torrent, though his mate had the grace to allow him the needed purge.

Together, they had come up with ways to rectify the issues. The painful loss of his elder son's love and respect, along with his subsequent rebellion. His younger son's careless disregard of anything that did not please his immediate needs, his deceits born of the blind eye turned to him. His own seeming neglect of his beloved family.

Izayoi might very well have qualified for sainthood in his eyes for having stayed through it all. And she allowed him to prove himself to her again, over time. He once again became the warm father he had been short years ago, fitting the broken pieces of his family back together with more patience than he remembered having. Kagome had swiftly and efficiently stolen her way into his heart, and he had found that the road to his son's acceptance lead through her. He loved the little miko girl like one of his own, something that took a shockingly little amount of time. It had been his growing respect and affection for the girl that had led to her moving in with them not six months later.

If at times, he wished he could have informed Inuyasha of the goings on behind the scenes, he refrained. It was not his place, even if he might have regretted the slowly growing desire in his hanyou son's eyes when they might have rested on Kagome. And while Inuyasha may never have had the love of a mate from her, it would open his eyes to the female who might fit him as perfectly Kagome and Sesshomaru fit together, that he might treat her with the respect needed to keep her. It was an experience that was needed in his young life, where everything had been handed to him. Now, Inuyasha could learn that last, most needed lesson in life: to respect the gifts given, and appreciate whatever form they might take. Because no matter how his son might wish it, he could not go back and regain the most precious gift…one that he'd never understood to begin with.

xxxxxxxxxx

a.n. – this chapter was dedicated to chaoswingdragon for her continued support.

I also wished to extend my thanks towards her, and a few special others. Kagehime, Kaiganeru, and Anakatanai for their massively timely 'behind the scenes' support…I was honestly beginning to doubt myself and they have helped me to shrug off those doubts and continue. To ShadowsWeaver1 for the kind name-dropping…it was very much appreciated! And to demonlordlover…still one of my favorite authors and always a thrill when she reviews!


	5. The End of Inocence

**5. The end of innocence in three parts (act one - innocence)**

_)--(past)_

Fifteen year old Kagome sighed in relief as she pulled the band from about her ponytail and let her hair fall around her shoulders. After having had it scraped so severely backwards and bound for the past few hours while she danced, letting it down was the signal for her body to relax. She hummed to herself as she shoved her sweaty practice clothing into a plastic bag and stuffed the whole bundle to the bottom of her small leather shoulder bag after wrapping herself in her towel. Shampoo, conditioner, and her much used body-poof joined the pile along with her street clothes.

She smiled and waved at another student as she moved towards the showers, absently rubbing her shoulder and anticipating the hot shower that was to come.

She stepped into the shower stall, closed the curtain behind herself, and flipped the dials to her favored setting before pushing the button that turned on the water. She jumped as the stream hit her, cold as hell for a few moments before it reached the desired temperature. She giggled at herself for being surprised yet again, because the studio's showers had not once hit the proper temperature with the first blast in the year and a half that she had used them.

"Good night, Kagome!"

The chorus of voices came from the door at the exit and Kagome peeked her wet head around the corner from behind the curtain. "Good night! See you next Tuesday!"

Now alone, her tired eyes closed as she rinsed the shampoo from her hair, conditioned it, then washed her face and body. She could hardly wait to get home, where she felt certain that she would not have to wait long for her favorite youkai to climb through her window, because she was almost certain a good massage could be wheedled out of him. Uncannily gifted with his big hands, the Inu had taken the intuitive leap not long after she had taken up dance in more than an idle fashion and begun working the tension from her tired body after some of her longer classes. Pressure, positioning, and the speed of every movement seemed to come naturally to him. But then again, she never really understood how he seemed to be so in tune with her needs, able to 'listen' to every movement of her body before he would respond accordingly.

She remembered coming home after that first night. She had begun belly dancing months ago, but had since taken up ballet as well. Her legs had ached, her back had felt as if it had been run over by a steamroller and her shoulders had burned. After having forced herself into the shower in the Taisho household, she had emerged from Sesshomaru's bathroom infinitely cleaner but very nearly hobbling. She'd hardly jumped, no matter her desire to, when the male had opened the door and stepped into the room before locking the door behind himself.

She had clutched her towel tighter and babbled nonsense as every exposed inch of her went rosy under his warm golden gaze. A soft smile had settled on his lips, and he'd gently pushed her towards his bed before urging her to lie on her stomach. She had followed his unspoken direction, still babbling as he folded the towel downward, then slowly tapering off as he'd swung a leg over her body and sat straddling her bottom as he set to work on her back. At first, she'd tensed in anticipation of the pain she'd felt certain would accompany the manipulation of her overworked muscles, but after those first few wary seconds, she'd sighed and melted under his touch. The heat of his body braced above her own warded away the chill and she'd been asleep long before he had finished. She never heard the low chuckle as he'd eased the blankets up over her shoulders while she'd cuddled his pillows. And if he'd felt the urge to curl himself tightly around her little nude body, he'd never allowed her to see such a need in him.

Kagome yawned as she toweled her hair free of excess moisture and pulled on her 'comfy clothes'. Lightweight, hipster-slung drawstring sweats and a soft knit shirt that she'd stolen from Sesshomaru just that morning. It was a constant source of amusement to him that she was more comfortable in his clothing than her own. He was forever teasing her that he was just grateful he was so much larger, or she'd be trying to get into his pants, next. The double entendre always passed her by, as did the way his smile would take on a momentarily libidinous twist.

She was the last dancer to leave the studio that night. It took her only a moment's fumbling to lock the door behind herself before setting off down the sidewalk towards home. Her mother was away for the night and she wanted to get dinner started before it was too late. The sky was already dark and full of stars as Kagome trudged on her way, ignoring the way her legs attempted to tremble with fatigue. Consequently it was almost a full ten minutes before she realized that she was being followed. She stopped for a minute, trying to decide what it was, exactly, that had alerted her. It wasn't anything outright, no sound or anything visually obvious, but she knew just the same that she was no longer alone and that her 'company' wasn't out to simply smell the roses.

She glanced behind her, disposing with subtlety as she knew very well that she was being watched, as they made no move to hide their actions. 'They' was an apt term, because that's when she felt it…multiple youkai auras, each filled with anticipation and malicious intent. They were of a lower class than her best friend even if they were just a bit older than he but they were traveling in a pack which more than made up for any insufficiency in their personal power. She would have loved to wait them out, but something told her that they were not going to be content with simply frightening her. And she would never have dared run…but for the way all six suddenly began to move in her direction. Inhuman males with evil eyes and ill intentions that abruptly made her feel like prey. It was that human instinct of self preservation that drove her just then…fight or flight…and she found herself breaking into a desperate run even as she knew that she could never outrun them.

She never questioned why they were after her, only poured every bit of her remaining energy into finding safety.

They slowly emerged into the yellow glow of the street lamps, each with leering smiles full of sharp teeth that she could only_ too_ well imagine sinking into her flesh and tearing her apart. The ursine males broke into a lope and followed her down the pavement, silently stalking the girl who only sought to escape them.

The first stages of panic began to set in as the uneven ground caught the toe of one of her sneakers and sent her crashing to the ground. But she managed to pick herself up and regain her fear-induced speed, taking a spontaneous detour away from her original route and beginning along another. She realized that, miraculously, she was beginning to leave them behind, but it took her all of three more spills to realize that they were playing with her. Letting her get ahead of them, before retaking the distance and dashing her hopes. And she felt her heart climb into her throat when they got close enough to force her into the razor wire surrounding the estate of a neighbor who had previously displayed his paranoia of youkai-kind. She had no idea what he might have thought it would accomplish, but at that point in time all she could do was force herself not to cry when the bladed spikes dug into her sides, back, and thighs. They laughed and jeered at her, one or two going so far as to body-block her and shove her harder into the fencing out of the desire to see her bleed. And for those few seconds in time, she was certain she was going to die.

Then, as they once more pulled back and dangled freedom before the petrified girl, Kagome caught sight of her destination. She felt a renewed surge of hope as she crossed the street and tore up the gravel driveway. She sensed their sudden rage as they realized that she might yet manage to get away from them. But she was already stabbing the key into the lock and jerking open the door. She never stopped to consider what might occur once she reached the house, unsure if anyone else was home.

It was only as she began to limp up the long, winding stairway, that she heard the savagely inhuman roar from outside. Something told her to keep running, because there was something in that enraged sound that chilled her far more than the rough growling and threats of the Kumayoukai males who had stalked her. She didn't stop to wonder who had voiced such a sound, only raced up the stairs to hide herself in her friend's room. Childishly, she found herself curled up in the back of his closet, hoping with everything in her that he would be home soon, but unable to bring herself to move from her hiding place. Sounds from outside continued to filter through the open window, sounding more like a brawl amongst animals on _Wild Kingdom_ than anything else. She cringed when she heard the impact of a heavy body against another and the accompanying pain filled grunt, jumping as a fearful howl rang through the night. Growls and snarls….and the sickening sounds of claws rending flesh. She tried to shut them out as tears rolled down her flushed and scraped cheeks, before she finally pulled a heavy leather biker jacket over her head to muffle the sickening sounds.

She breathed in the spicy male scent that permeated the leather, one she was used to curling into when she had an occasional nightmare…and it didn't get more nightmarish than _this_.

She was so intent on blocking out the violence that she never realized when it ended, shrieking in fear when she was abruptly lifted from the floor. She kicked and thrashed as she sobbed, until the jacket was pulled from her and she became aware of the identity of her 'captor'. A low, rasping purr reached her as she scrambled to get closer to Sesshomaru, who pulled her legs up around his hips and rocked her as if she were a child. The sound was one he used to sooth her when she was stressed or frightened and it worked on her as swift and effortless as black magic. She didn't feel the tension in him, missing the blood streaking his face and his bleeding eyes with her faced buried against his chest.

He was careful to keep his claws from her, not yet able to pull himself into check enough to retract them. The beast in him clawed to get out, to kill the source of her pain and terror. The blood he could still taste on his lips and feel drying on his arms and the stench of their fear were a poor payment for their offense.

He was shaking very nearly as badly as she was with so many instincts running rampant and attempting to shred his control. He needed to get the blood off of her before he lost himself and so hefted her higher to keep her from taking notice of his more base reaction as he strode in the direction of his bathroom. Her only response was to curl her arms tighter around his neck and press her hot face against his throat. She had quieted and now only the occasional hiccup would emerge. He set her on the ground before he pulled the shower curtain shut and reached behind it to set both shower spouts to a softer spray, swiftly rinsing the red splashes from his face and arms before turning back to her. He was impossibly gentle as he titled her chin upwards and licked away the blood staining her face, delicately healing the scrapes and the shallow cut that ran the along the soft slope of her right cheek before curving by her mouth towards her corner of her jaw.

Her huge, wounded eyes and trembling lips almost destroyed him.

_She was his. Had been his since that first night when she'd curled up in his arms and slept without fear, trusting him and effectively giving herself over into his care. And yet, someone had dared to touch her and bleed her. He'd never really understood hatred before, that driving need to hurt someone so badly they begged for death with every waking moment and breath, nothing touching him deeply enough to garner the necessary emotional reaction. But he felt it now. _

His movements were slow and carefully controlled to mask the simmering rage as he set out the towels and found the scented candles that she used when relaxing in the tub after a long night of study. She didn't fight him when he carefully turned her and pulled her shirt over her head, nor when he sank to his knees and looped a possessive arm around her hips to draw her backwards. The position allowed him to heal the deeper cuts along her back and dip of her waist, her infinite trust in him outweighing her normal modesty. She only shifted a bit nervously as he reached around and tugged the drawstring loose on her sweatpants, letting them slide down her hips and pool at her ankles. Again, his mouth followed the trail of welts and painful red slices, not hesitating even when he trailed his lips along the under-curve of her right buttock with a light scrape of his fangs. She started at the contact, and her breathing hitched momentarily at the unaccustomed sensation.

_He'd never touched her like that, before_, was the fleeting thought that ran through her head as she was nudged forward under the warm spray of water.

But the hot water was a welcome comfort to her battered body as the soft whoosh of the water drowning out the soft thump of Sesshomaru's clothes hitting the marble flooring, the heavy belt buckle muffled by the worn denim of his jeans. She didn't sense him, she who was so uncommonly aware of his every movement, until gentle fingertips began to smooth shampoo through her dirty hair. She gasped and jumped a bit, almost turning to face him till an alarming length of bare thigh and hip caught her startled gaze and she spun forward once more, docilely allowing him to rinse it clean again. Belatedly, she curved an arm over her chest and lowered the other in an attempt to preserve a bit of her modesty, but he wasn't having that. A low rumble vibrated through her where he'd stepped forward and pressed himself along the line of her body, powerful hands gently shackling her wrists as he lowered her arms to rest at her sides. And she couldn't fail to take note of what now dug insistently against her back like some velvet-clad threat. Something in her went very still; wary of the predator at her back…_the one __she seemed to have mistaken for tame. _

He transferred one captured wrist into the other hand, both now held effortlessly no matter her reflexive, futile tugging. Kagome's slick body squirmed against his with every attempt and he wrapped his free arm around the girl's hips and pulled her back, his low growling laughter appreciative of the way her wet skin slid along his hardness. The strange, dark sound was disconcerting and she pulled all the harder, though he didn't seem aware of her struggles as he bent and nuzzled her vulnerable throat. She couldn't help the whimper that escaped her suddenly tight throat as she felt his fangs graze her flesh as his lips brushed over her thundering pulse, and outright panic leapt through her as she turned and caught site of his face. Drawn tight with lust, his heavily lashed golden eyes were hooded and glowing eerily in the dark flickers of the candlelight as a strange smile curved his sensuously molded lips.

Every female instinct she possessed screamed at her to escape. And so she made the one mistake she never should have. He released his hold on her wrists as both big hands slid up along her ribs to cup her breasts…._and Kagome ran._

_xxxxxxxxxxxx_

_a.n. - still going, though the end is in sight…this 'chapter' is for Alternative Angel _


	6. The End of Innocence 2

_Instinct could be a very curious thing…_

_In some, the instinct for either fright of flight had been bred deeply into their very being._

On the uppermost level of a huge, sprawling residence, a petite, frightened girl followed her most driving instinct: flight across the pushily carpeted floor of the dark and lushly gothic lair of a predator.

Her heart pounded loudly in her ears as a part of her acknowledged that she might have just made a very serious mistake. She scrambled desperately at the doorknob that should've allowed her the escape she sought but only succeeded in spinning uselessly in her hands. No matter how hard she pulled, the doors refused to grant her an exit. The dark, stonewalled room that she normally loved so very much now felt overwhelming and oddly threatening, the coolness of the air sending gooseflesh across her nude body. She frantically searched for the reason of her failure then forced back a sob of dismay as she saw that both doors were bolted from the top. Heavy, dark steel slide bolts that were impossible to pick, both due to their make and the location of their installation.

At one time, Inuyasha had been fond of stealing into his elder brother's room and startling him awake. It had taken his very-near decapitation by the heavy fist of an un-amused beast to force their sire to understand that his eldest had only given a simple warning, even if his youngest had not understood it for what it was. The bolts were installed later that evening.

Kagome leapt up in an attempt to grasp them, though she knew just how futile it would prove to be; those bolts were more than eight feet from the ground.

_In others, instinct drove them to hunt and capture their chosen prey…_

The strangeness of Sesshomaru's smile warped even further with the addition of pleasure in the chase and growing lust as the towering male slowly followed in the path of his fleeing female. His golden eyes narrowed momentarily on the way her body writhed and flexed with her efforts, her small breasts bouncing with every jump. She seemed to be blocking out his approach. That, or she was far too focused on the doors to notice him gaining on her and so he took the time to appreciate the display she unknowingly presented.

His eyes gleamed in the darkness as he pursued her, graceful and silent.

Then like all prey in the sights of a predator, the prey gains a sudden hyper-awareness of its dangerous situation and puts forth a last desperate surge into flight. Ineffective and occasionally heartbreaking to witness due to the degree and brand of hunger demonstrated by the predator in question, there was only a very narrow percentage of those who escaped.

Big hands curled gently around her hips, arresting Kagome's downward trajectory and startling every bit of air from her lungs.

_Instinct caused the female to still like a frightened little bird that had sighted the hungry cat._

Too little, too late…because the cat had already caught _this_ little bird. An odd thought being canine as he was, but then Sesshomaru'd always been strangely more like a wild cat than some domesticated lapdog. His warm, heavy body pressed against her calves to her shoulders as he leaned into her from behind. That part of him that had so unnerved her, even if it were still sight unseen, pressed firmly against the base of her spine as he held her caged against the cool smooth wood.

She squirmed for a moment as if to escape, but it once more proved to be an exercise in futility. And she hastily went still when she realized that the small writhing shifts of her body were only encouraging his physical response to her where he lay thick and hard against her. She felt the vibration of his body against her own as he chuckled in response. The girl shivered as the unusual heat his body generated permeated her own, driving away the damp chill as he leaned into her just a bit harder and forced her flat against the door. _That same instinct that had made her go still now had her struggling wildly in the predator's effortless hold._

Kagome hated how helpless she felt. She of all people knew how incredibly pointless it was to struggle against him when he had his mind set on something. But just like before, when the pack of males had chased her, she found herself unable to simply _allow _something like this to just _happen. _And though she was sweet and rather unassuming, Kagome had an amazingly strong will. It was this very quality, in fact, that drew the male's beast. It was unlike any other of its breed…it did not _want _a truly submissive mate. It thrived on challenge and adored the girl's agile mind.

_However, the male's reasoning was far from typical, instinct driving him to manipulate his chosen female's emotions for his own ends._

Sesshomaru found himself putting incredible effort into maintaining his restraint. He did not want to overpower her to the point that she simply gave up and ceased to fight him. For all that the first time between a couple was about dominance, to simply frighten her into compliance would have felt far too much like rape, something he would never have forgiven himself for. He and his beast had been in accord from the very first moment he had met her; the Miko was not to be harmed, especially by him. If he were too rough with her, or let her feel that fighting him might cause him to beat her as most Inu males would in this situation, she _would _stop fighting him. He was highly unlike most in that, while he was completely secure in his dominant male nature or maybe even _because _of it, he very much desired for Kagome to battle him _for _that very dominance. And if it came down to her attempting to force him down onto the floor and take him for herself, he'd be on his back for her at the first sign she desired it of him.

_Were one to call him a sociopath, they would not have been far off the mark…_

A true sociopath was prone to obsession. They might even fool themselves into thinking they loved that obsession, but rarely saw beyond their own perception of the object of it. And those few, who perceived the reality, were desperately focused on enforcing their own desires on the person/thing they obsessed over.

Sesshomaru was truly a unique case. The love he felt for the Miko was both genuine and protective of its object. He had no desire to change her, nor would he ever allow anything to change her without her consent. That Kagome had been stalked and then frightened so badly, only to be violently abused by strangers simply for the fact that she was a very small and female example of her species, had earned those strangers a bright, shining lesson in true pain. The love he felt for her also governed his responses to the rest of the world. That it would distress her kept him from becoming a cold-blooded killer, effectually making her his unwitting conscience and the only reason the males currently littering his lawn were not yet fit for pine boxes.

The beast in him had him following his nose down the vulnerable column of her slender neck, half of him enjoying her skittering unease and the other berating him for it. It crawled just under his skin and purred when she pushed back against him harder in her attempt to put space between her body and the cold wood, allowing her to gain purchase on the floor with her outstretched toes. Just as it allowed him to slide those powerful hands back up along her waist and ribs before they slowly curled over her breasts and gently kneaded.

The unfamiliar sensation shocked through Kagome's body like lightening, raising every fine hair on her body, prickling over her skin as she unwillingly arced into his hands before she regained control over her traitorous body. Her breathing momentarily hitched as she tried to ignore the provocative touch, though her lack of any sort of sexual experience left her far more susceptible to the male's warm, unrelenting carnality. Every move she made was countered and redirected while her body continued to betray her. He was slowly seducing her senses with the heat of his body as it wrapped around hers while his lips made a gentle trail down the side of her neck and along her shoulder.

She'd never appreciated just how _physically _intimidating he could be, because she'd never been in a position to oppose him in anything at all. Only scant inches under seven feet in height and tipping the scales at well over three hundred pounds, Kagome was well used to feeling comforted by those very facets of him. His stature alone was easily enough to intimidate most and if that failed, she knew he was ungodly strong. Far stronger, in fact, than his sire had any inkling of. Before now he'd never used that strength in any way against her. But right this second she felt every bit as trapped as she had before while being hunted down and her well-being threatened by people who she had apparently wronged by simply existing. She didn't know what was wrong with him, but she couldn't figure out why he had suddenly turned on her. And while he wasn't physically hurting her, her sense of safety with his presence was being battered as it submerged under her new understanding of his nature.

His hands drifted downward again, skimming over her belly and tracing the curve of her hips. She gasped when long fingers slid through the short curls at the apex of her thighs and tugged almost playfully. The stark contrast of his tawny fingers threading through the blackness of the soft hair and then the broad palm cupped over her mound, suddenly struck her as a purely and possessively _male _act_. _One that brought nerve endings never discovered previously to singing awareness as she clamped her thighs shut in denial.

In a strange way, his very _gentleness _was winding her tighter and she fought harder still as she felt the new and uncomfortable tightening of her lower body. She didn't like the way she suddenly felt empty…and almost _achingly _needy for something she didn't understand. She didn't want to think about why it was that her skin seemed almost burning hot wherever his body touched hers or how much she wanted to push back into him just to feel him against her. Desperation caused her to reach back and pound her fists against his legs and lower back to no avail. Sesshomaru shrugged off her blows as if they had never happened, and she wanted to wail in frustration when she realized that she was actually amusing him.

But for all of her struggles and attempts to deny him, all her growls and occasional sobs of increasing agitation, the word 'no' never passed her lips…the one word that would have stopped him in his tracks because he'd never been able to deny her anything at all. Even if it meant reigning in and crushing down his need to reassure himself and the beast in the most basic way of her continued well-being. For all that his intent was aggressively sexual, it was not limited to it. He wanted –_needed- _to reassure himselfthat while she might have been frightened, she was not broken.

And in a curious way, forcing her to fight him was showing him exactly what he needed. Yes, he was amused by her efforts, but not for cruelty's sake. He loved that she knew him well enough to know that fighting him was not dangerous to her. No matter how outwardly brutal this would have appeared, he was entirely controlled. Was he sorry for frightening her: unquestionable. Would he stop?

_Never…unless she asked it of him._

Kagome suddenly found herself pulled to the floor and caged under the male she now realized she had greatly underestimated. She had known he was frightening to many, though she'd never understood why. To her, he was warm and sweet even if occasionally he confused her. She'd never understood why others found him to be cold, because his eyes always left her feeling warm and accepted. She'd never seen the cold-blooded nature he wore so openly. And to be honest, even after the cries and howls that he had drawn from her attackers like some creepy musical of pain, she still didn't truly comprehend it.

He was _Sesshomaru_! The guy who delivered her homework to her in class when she had left it on his dresser some mornings. She'd not noticed the way the students would gape in surprise at the sight of him, or the way the teacher would swallow uncomfortably as the big male swept past him without a word, a smile curving the wide mouth as he placed the papers on the edge of her desk. She didn't know that it was a mark of possession when he would bend and press his black shaded lips to her brow, leaving an imprint that showed for the remainder of the day. The big Inu in monochromatic black; from the heavy biker jacket that she loved to curl up under to the steel capped leather boots. His attire contrasted with the long silver-blue hair that flowed down his back in an old-fashioned queue, golden skin and eyes that drew the eye and would later infiltrate the dreams of every female present even if they did not exist to him.

He was the Sesshomaru who brought her midnight snacks, unasked for and greatly appreciated, when she spent long nights studying. The one who stayed up with her to keep her company and massage her back and shoulders as she leaned against his spread thighs while he sat on the low-framed bed. Her friend who had once ditched his own classes to come to her school and 'speak' with her mathematics teacher who had been giving her a hard time. The man despised the fact that she wasn't stupid and he couldn't treat her as a mindless drone that he talked down to so as to make himself feel smarter. She was the only girl in the class and he had a long held belief in male superiority. He hadn't understood just who he was dealing with when the young male had appeared soundlessly in the doorway and gently closed the door, the smirk well in place along with his perceived authority. No one really knew what had been said, though the teacher practically turned green when anyone mentioned the Taiyoukai thereafter, with not a mark left on him to explain the mystery of it. She later learned that it had in fact been Naraku who had worked up the guts to approach the older male with his observations and lack of understanding as to _why _it had been happening. He shared the class with her, and had found himself increasingly frustrated and _offended _on her behalf. Kagome had not really understood the subtle questioning about the teacher she had gotten from her best friend a few days preceding the incident while she lay curled up with him in the wee hours. Of course, that she was only half awake might have had something to do with that. She was only thankful that she had later been transferred out of the class and into a higher grade, something that finally challenged her.

He was the Sesshomaru that always came to her dance recitals, even if he caused a massive reaction amongst both the other students _and _their families. Her ballet instructor had pulled her aside to question her on his appearance, certain that he would cause a problem because of the image he presented, but he had been perfectly contained. As had the occasional friends he brought with him, all of them intent on showing support to the young Miko who kept their friend grounded and in control. They were an intimidating, eye-catching lot, but they loved Kagome and would never do anything to embarrass her. That was all it took for him to gain Madam Joiselle's approval, no matter how uneasy the male made her, and she could only _wish _that her other girl's families and friends were as supportive.

But he was also the Sesshomaru who lately made her stomach twist with butterflies when he said her name in that low, purring rumble of his. Who sent hot little tremors through her when he touched her. She'd never understood what Sango and Kagura had meant when they said a guy had a 'sex-voice'. But nothing could be better than her best friend's when the husky tone would rasp over her senses and make her want to stroke any part of him he would allow her to just so she could hear it again. And that was another thing…she had always wanted to touch him, actually found comfort in it, but the urge to slide her fingertips down his chest, let them skip down his abdominals and lower still? It scared the crap out of her.

She was suddenly brought back to her present situation when warm, firm lips pressed against her shoulder in a soft kiss just moments before his teeth gently bore down and tightened to hold her in place. Her eyes were huge as she pounded harder against his shoulders, though it made no more of animpact than any of the other blows. She pulled her legs up to kick at him, but it only let him force them wider apartwith his thighs and settle between them while riding out the wild bucking of her hips as she tried to throw him off.

And still, despite all of her thrashing and fighting, not one word came from between her lips. Lips that tightened in determination before curling back and baring her teeth. The small hands that pounded suddenly stopped as she curled her fists into his hair and pulled…_**hard.**_

He grunted in response, smiling against the shoulder he held clamped between white fangs and refused to let her pull him loose. He was careful as he settled more of his weight atop her to keep from crushing her and ground his hips down into her, enjoying the way she gasped and reflexively curled her legs up around his hips to hold him there. But he enjoyed it far more when her small teeth unexpectedly sank sharply into his shoulder, completely unconscious and wickedly pleasurable though it didn't stop her as she took stock of her assault.

The beast forced a low, growling moan from his suddenly tight throat and he clenched his eyes shut as he felt them slowly begin to bleed red. Little pinpricks of heat danced down his spine in the wake of slender fingers. Nails dug in at the small of his back as she struggled under his weight, but seemingly losing sight of just what she truly wanted when the reactions garnered were diametrically opposed to what she had thought she desired. Pain at her hands was apparently hardwired into him wrong and he only rolled his hips into her slower, making her shiver and cling to him all the harder as if to ward off the burning inside her body.

That aching, empty feeling she had discovered suddenly grew claws almost as terrible as Sesshomaru's and tore through her with merciless abandon. Fear resurfaced as she failed to understand what her body was demanding, only knowing that he was making it worse with every move he made. She was angry with him as well for the seeming betrayal as he refused to stop and yet helpless to keep her body from arcing up under him and attempting to satiate itself against his all too accommodating form. The agitated little grunt that worked its way from her clenched teeth suddenly gave way to a full throated, gasping moan. The rolling of his hips began to unhurriedly work her needy body open with his own, filling the emptiness with his own relentless hunger in a slow, inexorable thrust that left her no room to escape as he pinned her to the floor.

Kagome couldn't stop herself from biting down harder as the inescapable pressure inside of her mounted. The emptiness was melting away slowly and surely. She hated the way she felt invaded and yet so hungry for more though she felt almost bruisingly full with him. Her body instinctively clutched him tighter as if she could arrest his progress, unknowingly goading the male to take every bit of depth that her body could yield. She didn't see the way his claws suddenly and almost viciously drove through the floor as he fought to remain still and let her have a few, precious moments to breath and allow her body to accept him. Sesshomaru hated the fact that he was hurting her, even if part of him was darkly satisfied by the way her small, shuddering form had offered up its tangible proof of her innocence.

_And in the end, even those willingly driven by instinct…fall to instinct._

He concentrated on the short, swift breaths that shook her in an attempt to ground himself, ignoring the way the stone crumbled under his hands and the way her pulse thundered under his lips. But he had no way of predicting that she would clench even tighter around him in an attempt to lessen the discomfort of his presence. Just like he had no way of stopping as the sensation caused his taut body to suddenly rip all control from his grasp.

Kagome found herself with no other recourse than to coil her legs tighter around his hips to keep from being jarred against the hard floor. Lost in the confusing buffeting of emotion and unfamiliar sensation, she failed to notice when exactly the burn of overstretched muscles slowly began to shift back into the burn of need, one that he continued to feed with every deep thrust of his hips. The feeling of him driving into her was no more comfortable now that it had been before, but in a bizarre way it was something that she found she _wanted _and her entire body bowed upward in an unconscious attempt to intensify every movement. Her nails dug deeply into his lower back no matter that they were unable to break the surface and it only seemed to provoke him further. Shivering heat licked over her skin and prickled along her scalp as a strange aching pleasure began to grow and grow untill it felt like it would consume her entirely. Her body rocked upwards into him with every thrust and she _let it _aseverything in hertightened yet further, her lips drawing sharply at his shoulder. It dragged a low, feral sounding growl from the male's throat and he drove in so hard and fast that the growing pleasure suddenly sparked, caught fire…then detonated like a new year's firework finale. She felt her eyes rolling up behind her clenched lids, her nails raking violently up along his spine as he suddenly shuddered and stiffened and she could feel the way he throbbed just before he spilled hotly inside of her. She barely felt it when his fangs sank into her flesh as easily as diamond-honed razorblades, because it was just one more sensation amongst all the others.

Part of her conscious self, that piece that had decided to hide under a cowardly mental rug with its proverbial fingers in its ears while humming during the entire event, took that moment to abruptly re-emerge and frantically attempt reengage her panic-stricken fear. It screamed in desperation and something in the stiffening of her body must have alerted him because he left the mating mark he'd just branded across the juncture of her neck and shoulder to face her.

And it was at that moment that Kagome decided for herself just what her fate would be.

His eyes widened momentarily as slender arms suddenly curled demandingly around his neck and pulled him down, her soft lips finding his and taking greedy possession. It should have forced him to retaliate, for most males in this position would have seen it as an act of a defiant female trying to turn the tables…but all he could do was groan and let her have her way. Let her force his lips open and take whatever she might want from him. Her kiss was slightly clumsy due to inexperience, but she'd always been a fast learner. Soon she had him stretching up over her to keep her from stopping, distracting him from the wild bucking his body had been so intent upon, though possibly only due to the fact that he'd already come once. It gradually slowed into a slow, sensuous rolling that kept her from coming completely back down.

The hands that had held her still began to unhurriedly stroke over every bit of exposed flesh they could reach, re-learning her body in ways he had never allowed himself in the past. The beast rumbled a purr in his chest when she arched up into his hands as they curled around her breasts and squeezed. The smooth, shapely torso was mapped by hands that cherished and pleasured every inch, then wrapped around her hips and slowly rotated her against him in short**, **digging grinds. He could feel her squirming to get closer and very slowly shifted above her, sliding his thighs up behind hers and pulling her inexorably downward until he sat upright on his heels, her bottom cupped in broad hands as he held her suspended. Her eyes widened as muscles pulled and stretched in new ways, pressing him heavily along the back wall of her sheath.

It was partly an experiment of sorts, testing her compliance and waiting to see if she attempted to bolt. But she only pulled her knees up against her chest and let her head roll back, her lips tipping up into a smile that he'd never seen the likes of before. His eyes had regained their normal heated gold though they remained as inhumanly wild. The calculated pace of slow forward thrusts left her shuddering, her hands gripping his upper arms every bit as tightly as her body clasped around his. He leaned down again, kissing those lips that smiled with the pleasure he gave and again let her take control of it, delighting in her demands for more. He would never have dared take this position with her the first time; his self control would not have been up to the task. It required a great deal of restraint, which in itself was also oddly erotic. It forced him to focus on every responsive move she made, because the way she was positioned left her incredibly exposed and for all he would never do such a thing, he could have broken her with almost frightening ease.

He could hear her heart racing, gradually picking up speed the closer she came to her next orgasm. He'd never told her, but he'd memorized every pace and beat it kept; from the slow and steady tempo when she was relaxed, to the heavy thumping of excitement, and everything in between. He could have picked out her heartbeat in a crowd of millions from miles away. Now, he was learning the rhythm of her arousal, distracting himself from the clamoring of his body as it attempted to force him into his own end. Her hips twisted and writhed in his hands and before long her entire body bowed upwards once more, her neck sharply arced back as he felt the delicate ripple along her inner muscles that told of her impending climax. A sharp, carefully measured thrust forced what might have been simply a good orgasm into a flesh burning, mind numbing meltdown as a low, ragged scream escaped her faintly swollen lips. His teeth sank back into the new mark and the part of her that knew to feel fear at the knowledge of a predator's teeth buried in her throat made a feeble protest, then sputtered out. Her body jolted under his body as he let himself go and the muffled roar that followed heralded his own finish, echoing in the great stone room.

After what seemed like hours, Kagome managed to pull her scattered atoms back into a semblance of order. She felt almost dizzy as dark spots danced in front of her heavy lidded eyes. Her body was boneless as gentle arms curled under her hips and shoulders, cradling her against his body as he slowly made his way across the room. His familiar swaying stride sent small shivers of pleasure through her satiated body with every step. Her head lay on his shoulder as he carried her, reminding her of how he had held her so protectively just after he had dug her from the depths of his closet, and she found that the fear from that moment was only a distant memory. Nothing could ever hurt her with him nearby, nothing would dare.

She felt the room dip and sway as she was placed on his bed. He followed her down, crushing her pleasantly into the cool sheets. The trust she had placed in him so close to instantaneously after meeting him still ran strongly through her, because for all that he had hunted her down and scared her, he'd not once hurt her more than could be avoided. He could no more have prevented the pain of her lost virginity than he could have pulled the moon from the sky. She found the understanding inside herself to forgive his actions, because he was Sesshomaru…her very best friend. She would _always _love him, being completely incapable doing anything else. She would always accept him, because she knew that he had accepted her for everything she was long ago. Her body was languidly arranged to his liking, her arms wrapping around him as her legs curled higher around his waist. And she kissed him as he once more set about proving just _who _she would always belong to.


	7. The End of Innocence 3

**_The End of Innocence in three parts (Act Three – Submission)_**

She panted softly as she lay in the tangled bedding, her cheek resting along the male's belly as he attempted to regain himself. Soft growls would occasionally emerge as he clenched his fist in the black hair draped over his hip. He Was already fighting himself to give her the time to recover her senses just bare minutes after he'd shattered her. She slowly opened dazed eyes and watched him, feeling the tension in his big body as his muscles rippled and shifted restlessly. She'd never imagined anyone could be so insatiable, so completely enslaved to their own sensuality.

Sesshomaru forced himself to lie still, though every warm breath that gusted over his flesh threatened to undo him. He shifted his hips and then groaned through clenched teeth as the movement dragged Kagome's silky hair over his aroused flesh. Having finally given in to his desires, he found himself utterly incapable of restraining himself as he once had, no longer able to control his body's impulses. His awareness of her had sharpened; every beat of her heart and every shift of the elegantly curved body that lay against him in unknowing temptation, he felt her in a way that was no longer strictly physical. Felt when she tentatively touched on the new link in their psyches…and when she discovered the sharp ferocity of his desire.

Kagome gasped softly. _Did he always feel like this? It was like standing in a firestorm…_and she wondered how he could control the chaos in his was so much more tied to his desire than simple lust and affection. If it was just those simple facets, he'd have continued to wait for her and would have taken her when his affection melted into the common love of mates. But he was never meant to be a common youkai. There was too much power in him, the gift of careful breeding through millennia and a strange anomaly in his beast. Where most young youkai were trained from birth to repress and control the witless thing that would only give them the vague urges and instincts of their more animalistic side, Sesshomaru's beast came into being with all the intellect of its chillingly gifted counterpart.

She could feel everything in him that drove him to this end…his passion, his protectiveness, his fear of her near loss, the beast's possessive nature. And most of all…she felt the love that bordered on obsession. She should have been frightened of its intensity, but all she could do was feel awed that this exquisitely beautiful animal loved _her_so completely. Reaching up, shestroked her fingertips over the enticing shimmer of his golden skin, drawing his even more intensely golden eyes down to her flushed face. She could see the barely leashed need in them, feel it in his tension, and touch it as her cheek brushed the heavy length of him when she shifted and drew herself upward. He released his grip on her hair in response and she slowly crawled her way up his prone form, a part of her wondering at his strange passivity as he allowed her to settle atop him. She spread herself across his heavily muscled torso, her thighs draped comfortably over his waist as she braced her forearms on his chest and leaned upwards a bit to look at his face. His eyes kindled with heat, but he remained as he was.

And she realized, then what he was giving her; atonement for his earlier roughness and the helpless fear he had caused when he'd lost himself to his instincts. Wonder and innocent curiosity shimmered in the depths of wide blue eyes as they locked on the male's own. The barest hint of the gentle smile she was used to curved the lips that had ravaged her body with such impossible pleasure. His hands drifted lower to gently shift her hips downward and roll them just slightly until that hard, eager part of him pressed hungrily against the still slick heat of her. But he made no more advances and she knew that if she wished anything more of him, she'd have to take him on her own. It was a slightly daunting prospect, no matter her curiosity and her newborn knowledge of his body.

Like always, he seemed to sense her hesitation over how to begin and took note of the way her gaze lingered on his mouth. He eased them both upward until he could brace his broad shoulders against the headboard and give her the option she seemed to be silently asking for. She hesitated for only a moment, before she leaned forward and pressed her lips against his. Like before, she was surprised at how easily the firm contours of his wide mouth gave under hers, lips parting when she let her curiosity prod her into pressing her tongue against them. She felt the subtle vibration against her breasts as he purred in reaction, and again she felt that odd moment of déjà vu. He opened further, inviting her in and she went slowly, exploring his unique taste and the subtle inward curve of his sharp canines. Her hands braced against his chest and she leaned further into him, shivering when he nipped the tip of her tongue before dragging his own along the roof of her mouth and Kagome shivered in reaction, her hips shifting restlessly in his hands and pressing down against him. He groaned softly, the tone just as much pleasure as it was needful…a sound that peeled back the shadows from the hazy memory and she found herself remembering.

_It had been last year, just after her birthday. She'd been pressed by her friend into playing that silly game of 'Seven Minutes in Heaven' and promised that no one would force her to do anything after she was locked in with whichever__male was chosen. She'd not wanted any part of it, but peer pressure was a wicked thing and she'd finally cave. She had yet to understand the reason for the way her body felt chilled__ by__the touch of any male who attempted to draw her into a relationship, and was not looking forward to forcing herself to tolerate a stranger's hands on her. But the looks on both Sango's and Kagura's faces as she tried to get out of yet another attempt to interest her in a male had made her sigh, before walking towards one of the closets and forcing herself to close the door behind her. _

_She waited for the required ten minutes to pass__so as to preserve the identity of the females. Finally a new crowd of males were called into the room. She'd no way of knowing that both girls in question had themselves been shoved into closets and were waiting for__whichever__male to make their appearance. Sango had been saved from her fate when Miroku__all but flattened the male who had tried to follow his girlfriend, climbing in after her with a decisive thump of the door into the frame. Kagura had ended up with an outrageous flirt of an__Ikazuchyoukai with eyes__even redder than her own._

_Kagome never heard the soft growl that__ caused __the young man intending to open her own door to tuck tail and run before he found himself up against a male with murder in his cold eyes. She never bothered to turn and see who filled the doorway before shutting the door behind himself. And she only barely resisted as she was slowly turned to lean against the wall, resigning herself as she felt the softest of kisses pressed against her unresponsive lips. It had surprised her when that anticipated feeling of discomfort failed to chill her._

_Instead…heat had spilled from his lips and seeped through her until she shivered from it. He'd not pressed her for more, but she'd been stunned by__the softness of his lips and the easy way he allowed her to dictate the progress of it.__She remembered the way he'd captured her hands when she had reached out to touch him, refusing to allow her to discover him in that way. She'd gotten the impression of great height as her head tilted back sharply on her neck to keep the contact with the unknown male's smiling mouth. It was only as the last minute began to run out that he deepened the kiss…and gave her the sensation she'd never forget. He dragged his tongue along the roof of her mouth and groaned deeply, the hungry male sound startling her and kick-starting a new, fragile desire. Her first real kiss given to a faceless stranger. Then he was gone…so fast that from one blink to the next he had vanished__and she was left facing an open door with the light blinding her._

It had taken her the rest of the night, but she'd eventually forced the memory from her mind. She didn't want to dwell on something that was so fleeting in the scheme of her life, and she'd been so busy with the forgetting that she did not take note when Sesshomaru failed to comment on the scent of another male imprinted on her body.

Now….she knew why.

And like some kind of erotic trigger, the remembered sensation coupled with the rough sound from deep in Sesshomaru's throat and the heated feel of him spread under her sent that amazing need through her. She now knew what desire felt like, having learned it at the hands of his beast and his own searing need, but she found herself wanting again to feel that first spike of unimaginable pleasure and curious wanting. She once again rocked her hips down into him in unconscious need, and he responded with a slow, upward roll of his own that drove a surprised whimper from her. She couldn't help the way her body followed his unspoken suggestion, letting the thick ridge of his cock dig into her with each downward press, though he went still after that first thrilling drive. She never realized that her fingers were beginning to tighten over his biceps as her tension had begun to mount, her nails sharp against his youkai skin, and he did not bring her attention to it as the sensation sent little sparks of lust skipping along his taut frame. Nor did she remember raking them up the length of his back when she had hit that first brutal climax as he'd held her pinned to the floor, the small sting welcome though short-lived.

Kagome rocked against her new lover with a growing desperation that he could only delight in, her body flexing against his own in demand. Sesshomaru chuckled softly as he accommodated her need lifting into her and holding until she went hurtling into release. Her thighs tightened around his hips and she broke away from his lips with a cry as her body burned…then melted over him like heated candle wax. He could smell the sweet/tart tang of her release, feel it as it rained down against his skin and he shifted to let it slide the full length his cock before he once more settled under her. Her over-sensitive body trembled at the slick feel of him slipping between her thighs, and she jerked against him with another mini-orgasm. His eyes gleamed in the shadows, the ever present hunger piercing her.

Her small hands slid restlessly up over the slope of his shoulders before curling around his throat, pulling herself upwards. The loss of her heat dragged a grunt of protest from him before she slid back, shifting her hips till he butted up against the soft core of her. She couldn't seem to look away from the hot golden gaze that both demanded and begged. Carefully, she eased back further, inhaling sharply as he stretched the still tender interior of her body, discomfort flowing in hot waves. She more felt than heard him curse before he curled his fingers into her hips and slowed her untried attempt to take him.

"_Easy."_His voice was pitched low and thick as he shifted and eased his hands under her thighs, lifting her bottom upward until she was delicately balanced against the thick crest of him. Her forearms and upper body braced against his chest as her dancer's body arched into the position. _"Slow_and easy," he rumbled, lowering her in minute degrees until it was more of a pleasurable torture than anything else. She laid her cheek down between her flattened palms and twisted her hips against his hold no matter the futility, because he could have bench-pressed a semi. It was not about control, simply his desire to let her enjoy every single aspect of their joining, including that breathtaking first thrust. She let her eyes slide shut as she savored the luscious sensation, small panting whimpers breaking lose and finding answer in the male's occasional rasping moan as deceptively strong internal muscles rippled tightly around every invading inch of him as if to pull him deeper.

She could almost have cried in protest when he reversed the motion and pulled free, but he'd no intention of calling a halt. Instead, he took advantage of the additional slickness pulled from her by his withdrawal to slide deeper; faster. She_would_have screamed just then if she'd been capable of anything more than gasping. His hands shifted her hips slowly, letting her twist from side to side to explore the sensation before dragging over that much contested spot along the front wall of her sheath. She almost wanted to tell him '_stop! No,__please do that again!',_but he was already pulling back and giving her what she wanted, sensing the acute pleasure that resulted from it in the stuttering of her pulse.

Very quickly it became not enough and she once more tried to wiggle free and take more of him. He laughed at the mild curses she flung in his direction, purring when they became breathless pleas as he pulled her down until her heart shaped backside rested snugly against his hips. She trembled against him for a moment, forcing herself to breathe in a slow, even rhythm to counter that first shock of complete fullness. It wasn't just physical, though that was overwhelming in itself. But having been mated by him, she had gained a more intense awareness of him. The way his fierce youkai heart thundered under her cheek that spoke of more than simple need, because her own attempted to match it. The way she could almost taste his carefully controlled impatience as he unconsciously flexed inside of her, a gentle pull that tested her readiness. And it wasn't just _him_. The beast glowed in his eyes, and she was given an awareness of _its_desires. Thoroughly dominant in nature, it was nonetheless amused and wickedly aroused by the delicious irony of playing the submissive to such a small, fragile female.

Pushing herself back up astride his body proved a bit more difficult than she'd anticipated given the absolute inflexibility of him. Pulling her legs up beneath her, she tugged at his shoulders and he complied with her urging, sitting upright so that she could press her body against his. He felt her hesitate for a moment, before he lifted her upward and let her drop back into place, ducking his face into her shoulder as slim arms curled tightly around his throat when she took over the motion. She shivered when his lips nipped at the mark in the vulnerable curve of her throat, somehow less unnerved than aroused by the soft scrape of his canines. Even as they threatened to break her fragile mortal flesh, she rolled her torso along his with all the enticing skill of the belly dancer she'd been trained to be. He couldn't help either his responsive upward thrust or the short, startled growl that was ripped from him as every sleek, feminine muscle clutched and coiled around him with almost possessive hunger.

_That was all it took to murder all of his good intentions._

He felt his eyes bleeding red once more as desire clambered through his senses, his lip curling in an almost vicious fang-baring snarl as she forced herself down on him , he didn't miss the tiny smile of triumph that crossed her sweet face as the last of his restraint shredded when she squeezed him just that much tighter. He let go with a roar, his body jerking upright under her and Kagome wound herself around him as she welcomed the force of his driving thrusts, just short of true violence. She loved him for the way he had tried to give her some measure of control…but she was left feeling strangely incomplete by it. It had never been in his nature to be passive, and having him do so now was almost unsettling. She wanted the dominant male and the brutal passion that drove him now that she knew it existed in him…_she wanted all of him._

She wouldn't have even had the time to flinch if she'd so desired as those cruelly sharp fangs snapped closed against her shoulder, his fingers spreading over her hips with bruising intensity, and she knew that she'd bear the marks of those powerful hands for days after. They held her immobile and he drove deeper still as if determined to find the heart of her, the breath shuddering out of her lungs against the force that should have been excruciating…_and wasn't_. His body bunched and released in fluid, wild grace beneath her hands and between her thighs and her smile grew even as the painful pleasure intensified and burned through her like wildfire. She couldn't pull in enough air and even that seemed to drive the pressure higher, leaving her light-headed and panting. Darkness chased itself across her field of vision as her own teeth sank as deeply into his heavy shoulder as she could manage as if to anchor herself into consciousness. Sounds not unlike those of a little wildcat escaped her, pleasing the male with their tone and animalistic need.

The orgasm that had been slowly teasing along her senses suddenly exploded; a darkly burning thing that clawed and ripped at her. Her nails raked down his back as she desperately fought to pull him closer, something that even as far gone as he was, he noticed with a low rumble of pleasure just before the wicked tightening of her body dragged him over the edge with her, leaving him gasping and shuddering and wide eyed.

His heart thundered under her cheek in a wild rhythm, her small body still tightly coiled around his own as she lay slumped against his chest. He couldn't help the low purr of contentment that thrummed through him, not unlike a cat's purr when he carefully maneuvered her sweetly boneless body to lie along his own as he shifted down on the bed. The hands that had bruised her now caressed soothingly along her quivering body, drawing out the tremors and encouraging her to breathe normally. His own restlessness began to slowly abate as the beast allowed her total surrender to sooth its own need to claim and dominate the female it craved. It had spent far too many nights wanting her to the point of pain, his own body bearing the brunt of its lustful desires as he attempted to keep it from her. The ache in his body from living with the fierce arousal that refused to relent, no matter the times he had tried to take himself in hand or even ignore it was still a factor, but he refused to give it thought for now with the pleasant lassitude that was now creeping through his mind.

His eyes slowly bleed into the beast as the other half relaxed, refusing even then to give in to the need for rest in favor of guarding it's new mate, it's conscience, it's love…it's very soul given shape and form. Just like it refused to allow the separation of their bodies even in sleep, the hellish glow given off by his demonic eyes a tangible threat to anything that might dare intrude belying the gentle stroking of his clawless hands along soft female flesh.

_And even then, despite the desperation with which he'd taken her, the burn of desire still__smoldered unrelentingly through him…_

%%%%%%%%%%

(a note from the awesomely awesome Miss Chaos –

Dear fellow Dokugans, do forgive this lowly Beta for depriving you of P7 by hoarding it to myself. I must confess I pestered and prodded poor Sidhe... maybe with my whip... to produce this luscious treasure and then took forever and a day to beta it. I could blame life for getting in the way but after reading this I believe anyone can see it is quite obvious I was just being greedy. What can I say, this piece was delicious! Alas, I am finally sated. Enjoy! ~Covetous Chaos )

a.n. -Well, I'm not too sure how much was Miss Chaos, and how much it is hard to share my lusciously wicked sociopath, even with his fans *sigh* but here he is! At long last


End file.
